Asian Paints Ltd. said its normalized net income for the fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30 amounted to 4.46 Indian rupees per share, compared with the S&P Capital IQ consensus estimate of 5.31 rupees per share.

EPS increased 19.5% year over year from 3.74 rupees.

Normalized net income, which excludes unusual gains or losses on a pre- and after-tax basis, was 4.28 billion rupees, an increase of 19.6% from 3.58 billion rupees in the year-earlier period.

The normalized profit margin rose to 11.5% from 9.6% in the year-earlier period.

Total revenue totaled 37.21 billion rupees, compared with 37.31 billion rupees in the prior-year period, and total operating expenses decreased year over year to 30.92 billion rupees from 31.81 billion rupees.

Reported net income grew 19.3% from the prior-year period to 4.76 billion rupees, or 4.96 rupees per share, from 3.99 billion rupees, or 4.16 rupees per share.

As of Oct. 25, US$1 was equivalent to 66.86 Indian rupees.