India Inc raids the piggy bank, even as capex plans stay muted

Following years of aggressive hoarding, Indian corporations are starting to dip into their cash reserves to fund dividend payouts and acquisitions, but not capital expenditure (capex).According to a Mint analysis of data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), the pace of cash accumulation hit an eight-year low by September 2025.The analysis of CMIE data for a common sample of nearly 2,000 listed firms, excluding banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) companies, showed that cash and bank balances rose just 1% year-on-year to about ₹5.4 trillion by September. The pace is a far cry from the pandemic period, when heightened uncertainty pushed median cash balances up by nearly 15% annually between September 2020 and September 2024.Companies are now sitting on a cash pile equivalent to nearly 5% of their total assets, up from 3.5% in September 2017 and 4% in September 2020, the analysis showed.

However, these levels are still below those of their global peers. According to an August 2025 Morgan Stanley report, Indian corporate cash holdings trailed both the US and global medians, which stood at 9% and 11% of total assets, respectively, in 2024.“India Inc’s cash balances may look high in absolute terms, but they are far lower than cash buffers typically held by American and European companies,” said Ajitabh Bharti, executive director and co-founder of CapitalXB, a Reserve Bank of India-registered non-banking financial company focused on financing small and medium enterprises and cross-border supply chains.However, the slower pace of cash accumulation reflects a shift in corporate strategy, experts said, with firms prioritising higher shareholder payouts and selective inorganic growth amid abundant