The foreign investors' attraction for India funds seems to be as restrained as in 2009, with only five such funds launched in the first two months of 2010, mobilising $492 million.
A study of 435 companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange, which provide their capital-employed data on a quarterly basis, shows capex grew by a meagre 3.4 per cent in the nine months ending December 2009, compared to the level in March 2009.
Corporate India will have to shell out an additional Rs 21,000 crore (Rs 210 billion) if the 2010-11 Budget increases the excise duty by 2 per cent.
An analysis of the growth rate of 15 leading drug companies for the third quarter of 2008-09 show excellent performances in domestic turf have been often marred by the poor show of their acquired assets.
India Inc as a whole has recorded a 62 per cent rise in net profit and 310 basis point rise in margins.
A total of 635 companies have declared their third-quarter results and reported 22 per cent rise in revenue and 47.3 per cent growth in net profit on an average.
Bharti Airtel and Larsen & Toubro may have struck a jarring note by turning in disappointing results, but India Inc as a whole has done fairly well so far in the third quarter ending December 2009.
The managers see Sensex trading at a P/E of 16.
Manufacturing sector suffers from project delays, lack of fresh capital.
Sales are expected to grow at an average of 14 per cent on the back of a strong show from automobiles, auto ancillaries, construction, capital goods, metals, refineries, metals and sugar.
The BSE metal index tops the sectoral gainers list with an appreciation of 233 per cent.
This year was the best since 1991, with benchmark indices rising over 100 per cent from their March lows.
India Inc is likely to post a whoping 63 per cent growth in net profit in the second quarter, thanks to four oil marketing companies which are expected to post a combined net profit of Rs 2,730 crore (Rs 27.30 billion) in the quarter ended September.
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 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.
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.