Profit jumps, revenue crawls for India Inc in Q1

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

India Inc's revenue growth decelerated sharply year-on-year in the June quarter, dragged down by the oil and gas sector and a higher base in the year-ago period while net profit growth was robust, helped by easing input costs. A stellar performance by the banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) sector supported aggregate earnings. While analysts remain optimistic about the earnings trend in the coming quarters, rising crude oil prices, softening exports and state and general elections in the coming quarters will be key factors to watch for.

For a common sample of 3,901 companies, revenue rose by 6.2%, the weakest reading in at least nine quarters. Net profit on the other hand shot up 39%, the highest in six quarters. In the year-ago quarter, revenue and profit grew by 38.4% and 26.3%, respectively.

«Corporate earnings were in line with our estimates. Our coverage universe recorded the highest earnings growth in the last eight quarters, fueled by domestic cyclicals such as BFSI and automobiles,» said Gautam Duggad, institutional research head, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.HDFC Securities retail research head Deepak Jasani said the performance of India Inc. was poor at the top line but better on the margin front.