BENGALURU (Reuters) - Coal India reported a better-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue on Thursday, as higher sales volumes at its pits offset a fall in prices.

Indian power plants had stocked up more coal in the beginning of the year, anticipating a surge in summer electricity consumption.

The company, which accounts for about 80% of the country's annual coal output, reported revenue of 374.10 billion rupees ($4.48 billion), beating analysts' estimates of 368.15 billion rupees, according to LSEG data.

The state-owned miner's consolidated net profit rose 26.3% to 86.82 billion rupees, compared with 68.75 billion rupees a year ago, when its profit was impacted by expenses related to employee wages.

Analysts on average had expected a net profit of 77.37 billion rupees.

The state-run miner's offtake rose about 8%, while average price realisation per tonne for the quarter stood at 1,696.98 rupees, down from 1,877.06 a year ago.

Meanwhile, total expenses fell 8.3% during the quarter.

The Kolkata-based company also declared a final dividend of 5 rupees per share for the financial year 2023-2024.

Shares of Coal India closed flat ahead of results.

($1 = 83.4466 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Anuran Sadhu in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)