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Oil India reported a marginal rise in first-quarter profit on Tuesday as a fall in expenses offset a dip in revenue on the back of a drop in crude prices.

The oil explorer's profit rose 4% to 16.13 billion rupees ($194.8 million) for the quarter ended June 30 from a year earlier.

A 26.5% fall in Oil India's total expenses outweighed a 22% slump in revenue. Crude oil prices dropped more than 43% in the June quarter, from a peak last year.

Oil India's profit fell nearly 10% from last quarter after the government slashed gas prices in April.

The government had cut gas prices and set a ceiling to help industrial buyers and city gas distributors.

More than 80% of India's yearly gas output of 91 billion cubic metres comes from old fields owned by the government-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Oil India.

Profit before tax and interest from the company's natural gas segment rose nearly 88% year-on-year but fell about 25% sequentially.

Oil India's shares, which are up 31.4% so far this year, closed 0.3% higher ahead of the results.