bengaluru aug 7 reuters  indias tata chemicals ltd ttchns posted a 97 fall in firstquarter profit on monday hurt by a fall in soda ash prices and lower volumes the chemical manufacturers consolidated net profit fell to 532 billion rupees 6431 million during the quarter ended june 30 from 589 billion rupees a year earlier soda ash prices got adversely impacted as many customers delayed their purchasing decisions due to new supplies expected from inner mongolia china said managing director and ceo r mukundan supply of soda ash used to prepare lithium carbonate  a key active material needed to manufacture electric vehicle batteries increased after china eased covidrelated rules the company had to adopt agile pricing to maximise volumes and ensure optimum utilisation of capacity mukundan added the tata groupowned company cut down its soda ash prices by 6 to 7 across all grades effective from june 14 it announced another cut of about 5 in the prices recently effective august 2 the mumbaibased companys total revenue from operations posted a smaller 56 jump to 4218 billion rupees from a 342 jump last year its basic chemistry segment which contributes the most to its revenue rose 107 compared with a 408 jump last year besides soda ash basic chemistry products include sodium bicarbonate salt and marine chemicals which are widely used in paints detergents and insecticides total expenses climbed 78 including a 10 rise in power and fuel costs the companys shares ended 08 lower ahead of the results the stock has gained 109 so far this year 1  827270 indian rupees