Mumbai, Aug 14 (IANS): Essar Ports Limited posted a net profit of Rs.99.1 crore for the first quarter of fiscal 2015-16 -- a rise of seven percent in profits, the company said.

According to the quarterly results for the quarter ended June 30, 2015, net profit -- at Rs.92.2 crore in Q1 2014-15 -- rose by Rs.7.1 crore.

Total income from operations rose by five percent to Rs.452.2 crore in the April-June quarter of the current fiscal from Rs.431.6 crore in the same quarter of last year.

During the analysed quarter, Essar Ports took over Visakhapatnam iron ore outer harbour terminal which increased its total operating capacity to 120 million tonnes per annum (MTA) from 104 MTA, the statement said.

"We expect the economy to grow at higher pace in the coming quarters. This along with availability of long-term funds for infrastructure financing will give a boost to the sector," said Rajiv Agarwal, MD, Essar Ports in the statement.

"We have continued to increase our port capacity by adding the terminal at Visakhapatnam and are in line to increase our capacity to 194 MTPA by 2018," Agarwal said.

Visakhapatnam port trust was earlier operated by Visakhapatnam iron ore outer harbour terminal, the takeover gives Essar Ports a ready third-party cargo, the statement said.

Essar Ports operates four port terminals at Hazira, Vadinar, Paradip and Vizag Iron Ore. It is also setting up a dry bulk terminal at Salaya with a capacity of 20 MTPA.