Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was down 118.22 points, or 1.28%, to 9,118.06.

On BSE, 61,169 shares were traded in the counter. The stock had an average daily volume of 10.45 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 165.85 and a low of Rs 158 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 342.50 on 21 May 2008 and a 52-week low of Rs 88.15 on 27 October 2008.

The large-cap stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 29 January 2009, falling 6.70% as compared to the Sensex's decline of 3.12%. It had outperformed the market in the past one quarter, gaining 37.97% as compared to the Sensex's return of 2.12%.

The company's current equity is Rs 1896.67 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

The current price of Rs 163.60 discounts the company's Q4 December 2008 annualized EPS of Rs 0.78, by a PE multiple of 209.74.

Cairn India's sales surged to Rs 0.99 crore in Q4 December 2008 as against Rs 0.13 crore in Q4 December 2007. The company announced the results after market hours on Thursday, 29 January 2009.

On a consolidated basis, the company reported a net profit of Rs 236.42 crore in Q4 December 2008 as compared to net loss of Rs 13.91 crore in Q4 December 2007. Total income rose 21.24% to Rs 355.92 crore in Q4 December 2008 over Q4 December 2007.

The net profit included one-time reversal of deferred tax liability amounting to Rs 123.60 crore, the company said in a statement.

The average oil price realization dropped 37.47% to $56.4 a barrel in the quarter ended December 2008 over the quarter ended December 2007. The gas price realization rose 10.19% to $4 per million standard cubic feet in the quarter ended December 2008 over the quarter ended December 2007.

Earlier on 19 January 2009, Cairn had received government approval to develop three oil and gas discoveries in Kameshwari West and a new development area of 822 square kilometres in the northern appraisal area of Rajasthan blocks.

Cairn India, on 22 December 2008, said it had made an oil and gas discovery near its existing field in Rajasthan. The company said the well had a flow of 500 barrels of oil per day and 0.4 million standard cubic feet of gas a day during a testing phase.

In November 2008, India's cabinet rejected an oil ministry proposal to award a deepwater block off the west coast to Cairn India, as the company had not offered the government an attractive enough share of potential production, or profit petroleum.

Cairn India explores and produces crude oil and natural gas in India.