The loss was about 10 times worse than the figure it posted for the preceding 12 months, and follows a year that chairman Tulsi Tanti summed up as “extremely difficult”.

The Indian group saw its revenues slip to 190.1bn rupees from a year-earlier 214.1bn rupees.

It also suffered the effect of about 11bn rupees of  exceptional costs such as foreign exchange losses and asset impairments.

In