Mumbai, July 20 (IANS): Mining major Hindustan Zinc on Monday reported an increase of 19 percent in its net profit for the first quarter of the current fiscal.

The company's net profit during the quarter ended June 30 stood at Rs.1,921 crore -- up from Rs.1,618 crore in the corresponding period of last fiscal.

"Zinc price has held up better in an environment of retreating base metal prices. We anticipate later part of the year to be stronger on expectation of global zinc deficit due to mine closures," Hindustan Zinc chairman Agnivesh Agarwal was quoted in a statement.

"Indian manufacturing sector is showing signs of recovery with improved order books and flow of funds backed by government initiatives, thus providing a positive outlook for the industry."

In a regulatory filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Zinc-Lead-Silver miner reported that the overall revenues were up 21 percent to Rs.3,596 crore in the quarter under review from Rs.2,963 crore in the corresponding period of 2014-15.

The Vedanta Group said overall revenue increase was driven by higher zinc volumes, London Metal Exchange (LME) prices and rupee depreciation.

The zinc-lead-silver miner said its EBITA (earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation) increased by 24 percent to Rs.1,672 crore from Rs.1,352 crore due to higher revenues and lower cost of production.

The company pointed out that its integrated saleable zinc, lead and silver metal production during the quarter under review increased by 35 percent, 27 percent and 33 percent, respectively.

"Mined metal production increased by 42 percent at 232,162 tonnes during the quarter, as compared with 163,131 tonnes a year ago," the statement added.