Mining major, Vedanta Resources has recorded a fall of 5 per cent in net profit in the December quarter mainly due to the weak performance by its aluminum operations and copper units in Zambia.

The mining major said that its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was recorded at $848.4 million in the quarter including $131 million earnings from Cairn India, in which it owns a majority stake.

The Zambian copper operations posted a weaker than expected core earnings of $67.7 million, compared to $134.4 million in the previous year mainly due to a slowdown in production weaker copper prices and a provision for higher power costs.

The company's aluminium business was also affected by lower market prices and devaluation of the Indian rupee, which cased mark-to-market losses on foreign currency loans for the company. The core profit from the sector fell to $3.6 million for the division from $76.3 million.

In the first nine months of the year, the company's core profit increased 14 per cent to $2.6 billion. Cairn India has paid Rs 3,000 crore to state-run ONGC towards its

share of royalty till September 2011 for the Barmer oilfield in Rajasthan in the period, which affected its earnings