mumbai the sharp fall in steel prices have almost halved tata steels fiscal second quarter net profit missing street estimates the companys standalone net profit which excludes earnings from the european unit corus dropped 49 to rs 903 crore in the quarter ended 30 september from rs 1788 crore in the yearago period revenue declined 16 to rs 5692 crore the quarterly numbers disappointed financial analysts and have fallen short of their expectations and consequently pulled down tata steel shares the stock fell 726 to close at rs 501 on bsetata steel said that lower steel prices and weak results from its ferro alloys division mainly accounted for the fall in profit in the second quarter of 200910 tata steel said that on a sequential quarteronquarter basis there has been an improvement in the companys revenue and operating profit as economic revival lifted up demand it expects the third quarter to be better than the september quarter of fy10 with steel prices moving upwards and expects demand from key industries such as construction automotive and home appliances to risethe governments thrust on infrastructure will also benefit the company the september quarter of fy09 was a record period for tata steel with steel prices ruling as high as 40000 per tonne before the global credit crunch took root during the september quarter of 200910 steel prices were around rs 30000 per tonne tata steel saw a rise in raw materials costs to rs 1426 crore during the period under review mainly due to imported coal however it sold more steel during the quarter with volumes growing by a fifth to 146 million tonnes in the quarter