The morning doesn't always show the day. After the early birds surprised many with their decent increase in net profits, a detailed analysis of the performance of 2,088 manufacturing and services sector companies (excluding banks and finance firms) shows that net profit has indeed gone up -- but only just.
From a single private firm with a Rs 1,000-crore (Rs 10 billion) net profit, there are 28 such companies now.
Operating margins improve, but sales still sluggish
The defence ministry has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology under which the armed forces will immediately release 10 MHz of 3G spectrum and 5 MHz of 2G spectrum.
The 193 companies have proposed a dividend payout of Rs 16,764 crore (Rs 167.64 billion) for 2008-09 on a net profit of Rs 92,412 crore (Rs 924.12 billion) compared to Rs 15,328 crore (Rs 153.28 billion) paid on a net profit of Rs 84,790 crore (Rs 847.9 billion) earned in 2007-08.
Indian CEOs are increasingly finding representation on some of the world's most influential policy bodies.
The net sales of these outperformers grew by 57.7 per cent, while their net profit rose by 69 per cent in the nine months of the current financial year over the same period of the previous year.
The poor performance of the corporate sector in the current financial year is reflected in the fact that the number of sectors posting net losses has more than doubled quarter-on-quarter -- from seven in the first quarter to 15 in second to 37 in the third quarter.
Foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) are proving to be a double-edged sword with large premiums simply vanishing on account of bear markets and the ghost of redemption at yield-to-maturity (YTM) hanging on.
As many as 2,431 firms in manufacturing and services sectors post their biggest-ever net profit decline of 42.45 per cent.
There are very few takers for B Ramalinga Raju's astounding claim that the margin earned by Satyam in the quarter ended September 2008 was just 3 per cent, and not 24 per cent as reported in the results.
Bharti loses 24% in 2008 compared to 62% for Tata and over 73% for ADAG. He tried to light an oil lamp with a candle, but somebody had put in too much oil. The wicks were soaked and refused to catch fire.
Once criticised as inhibitory, India's strict regulatory norms have protected local banks from the global financial tsunami.
The global credit crisis has slowed order growth of Indian construction and engineering companies, indicating that several big projects, planned earlier, are being pushed back either for lack of capital, or because they have become unviable now.
The tide for Indian firms seems to be turning. As much as 41 per cent of companies announcing their second-quarter results have registered a drop in profit.
Sales of 137 firms up 29.7%, but operating margins dip.
A-Star, Suzuki's new world car that will be made only by its Indian subsidiary, Maruti Suzuki India, will have four different names in markets across the world, which will indicate the role it is expected to play in the Japanese car maker's stable as well as of compatriot Nissan Motor.
The programme in India takes in 25-odd executives who have already worked for a few years. Upon passing out, they are expected to be future 'growth' leaders at GE, which earns about $2.6 billion (Rs 12,135 crore) in India a year and employs over 14,500 people across the country.
After four years of growth at 40 per cent or more, capital expenditure (capex) by India Inc in the current financial year (2008-09) may drop almost 30 per cent.
The combined stake of foreign institutional investors in the top 500 Indian companies has dropped to a two-year low of 18.18 per cent as on June 30, 2008 from a high of 19.86 per cent in the corresponding period a year ago.
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