Reliance Industries Ltd on Monday reported a 5 per cent fall in the net profit for the July-September quarter, as weak oil refining and petrochemical business hurt operational performance.
'We don't make films for profit and that's exactly why profit follows.'
Banks will be able to give loans to Indian companies for acquiring the entire equity stake or a controlling part of it in domestic or foreign firms as strategic investment that creates long-term value rather than for short-term financial restructuring if the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) draft circular, issued on Friday, comes to fruition.
These 10 stocks represent the best mix of value and growth, offering relatively low price-to-earnings and price-to-book ratios, a high return on equity, and sufficiently high potential from current levels.
From the Sensex basket, Kotak Mahindra Bank jumped 5 per cent after the company reported a 25 per cent growth in its March quarter net profit at Rs 5,302 crore, limited by a drop in the core income due to narrow interest margins. Tata Consultancy Services, Hindustan Unilever, Mahindra & Mahindra, Sun Pharma, Tech Mahindra and IndusInd Bank were among the other major gainers. Titan tanked 7 per cent after its March quarter earnings failed to cheer investors.
India's top IT services firms delivered single-digit revenue growth in April-June, capping off a mixed, somewhat-sobering quarter as macroeconomic instability and geopolitical tensions weighed on global tech demand and delayed client decisionmaking. Management commentary painted a mixed picture, caution prevailed, yet industry CEOs also emphasised cost optimisation, vendor consolidation, and opportunities in AI makeovers.
Collectively, the pack of 12 has posted a 50 per cent rise in profits -- Rs 25,685 crore. On a quarter-on-quarter basis (that is, September over June), the rise is 68 per cent. Public sector banks have never had such a stellar performance, explains Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The strong domestic flow offset selling by foreign portfolio investors who pulled out $23.3 billion (Rs 2.03 trillion) from domestic equity markets in CY25.
Novelis' Q3FY25 volume stood at 904,000 tonnes (down 1 per cent Y-o-Y, down 4 per cent Q-o-Q), due to lower VAP and automotive shipments. Revenue stood at $4.1 billion (+4 per cent Y-o-Y, down 5 per cent Q-o-Q).
Rising investment is eating into the luxury carmaker's cash pile.
IndusInd Bank MD and CEO Sumant Kathpalia on Tuesday resigned with immediate effect, taking moral responsibility of accounting lapses in the derivatives portfolio, having financial implication of Rs 1,960 crore to the bank.
Operating margins have been the primary driver of corporate earnings in India in recent quarters, despite revenue growth suffering from weak consumer demand. Companies across sectors have reported a sharp improvement in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) margins over the past two years, benefiting from lower commodity and energy prices. Higher margins more than compensated for slower revenue growth, resulting in double-digit growth in net profit for five consecutive quarters.
The stocks are largely from sectors such as chemicals, finance and cement, which struggled earlier but the worse seems to be behind them.
There has been a sharp slowdown in revenue and profit growth in the cement sector in recent quarters but it is yet to show in the share prices of cement companies. On the contrary, there has been a rally in cement stocks and a re-rating of their equity valuation in the past three years despite an earnings contraction during the period.
If the banks throw caution to the winds for building loan books, the hydra-headed bad loans may resurface and spoil the party, warns Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The country's largest airline IndiGo on Friday saw its profit after tax slide 18.3 per cent to Rs 2,448.8 crore in the three months ended December 2024 due to foreign exchange loss even as revenue jumped on higher capacity and passenger traffic. The carrier, which had a fleet of 437 planes at the end of December, is planning to induct wet leased planes for long range flights and expects the number of grounded aircraft to come down to 40s by the start of next financial year from the current level of 60s.
Mirroring the increase in the earnings of their companies, the chief executives and promoters of India's top listed firms gained handsomely from the boom last financial year. Their remuneration includes salaries, perquisites or perks, and profit-linked commissions.
Brokerages expect India Inc to report an upturn in earnings for the March quarter of 2022-23, after a relatively muted showing in the previous two quarters. This growth is expected to be led by banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) companies, FMCG firms, and automobile makers. The combined net profit of the Nifty50 companies (excluding Adani Enterprises) is expected to have grown 15.6 per cent to Rs 1.77 trillion in Q4FY23, from Rs 1.53 trillion a year ago.
ITC has posted a profit after taxation of Rs 771.75 crore (Rs 7.71 billion) for the quarter ended March 31, 2005 where as the same was at Rs 387.06 crore (Rs 3.87 billion) for the quarter ended March 31, 2004.
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Tuesday posted a 31 per cent drop in consolidated profit to Rs 2,072 crore in the March quarter mainly due to devaluation of the Nigerian Naira. The company had registered a profit of Rs 3,005.6 crore in the year-ago period. The consolidated revenue of operations increased 4.4 per cent to Rs 37,599.1 crore during the quarter under review from Rs 36,009 crore a year earlier.
Brokerages expect Nifty50 companies to have cumulatively witnessed strong double-digit growth in their earnings in the first quarter of FY24 (Q1FY24). This growth in the combined earnings is expected to have been driven by banks, automakers, and oil & gas companies. Other sectors may report muted profit growth.
Not all listed companies above a threshold have spent on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the way they were required to do. The aggregate unspent amount in 2022-23 (FY23) stood at a five-year high of Rs 1,475 crore. In FY23 listed companies spent Rs 15,602 crore while the amount to be expended was Rs 15,787 crore, according to the data from corporate tracker primeinfobase.com.
Mint Road's proposals on banks' M&A funding are cautious even as entrants root for more elbow room, and weigh business models.
After four years of high double-digit growth in profits, corporate earnings of Indian companies hit a speed bump in the April-June quarter of 2024 (Q1FY25), leading to the risk of a downward revision in India Inc profit estimates for FY25 and volatility in the equity market. Earnings growth slowed despite companies in most non-financial sectors reporting higher operating margins from lower commodity prices and a decline in interest costs.
FMCG major Hindustan Unilever on Wednesday reported a 1.53 per cent decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 2,561 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2024 due to factors such as deflation and softening of commodity prices. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 2,601 crore in the year-ago period, according to a regulatory filing from HUL. Net sales of Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) were almost flat to Rs 15,013 crore in the March quarter.
Key benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty declined for the third session in a row on Friday, dropping nearly 1 per cent, dragged by heavy selling in IT, auto and energy stocks. Tariff-related uncertainties amid mixed global market trends also added to the pressure, analysts said. The 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 689.81 points or 0.83 per cent to settle at 82,500.47.
Big, listed FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) companies such as Hindustan Unilever, ITC, Nestl, and Britannia have been top-performing stocks on the bourses in recent weeks. The Nifty FMCG index, which tracks the share prices of the country's top 15 listed FMCG companies, is up 1.9 per cent month-to-date in May compared to a 2.4 per cent decline in the benchmark Nifty 50 in the period.
Bharti Airtel is expected to see its highest revenue growth, and subscriber addition during the third quarter (October-December) of FY25 among telcos, said analysts. The telco's top line in Q3 may see the fastest sequential growth at 5 per cent compared to 3 per cent for Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea (Vi). Airtel's annual mobile revenue growth would rise to 16 per cent, IIFL Capital said in an analyst note.
India's largest PSU bank, State Bank of India, delivered excellent results, once the impact of a big jump in employee expenses was adjusted for. The net interest income (NII) beat the Street due to a better net interest margin (NIM) and good loan growth. The credit growth at 5.2 per cent quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q) (15 per cent year on year) was excellent for a large bank.
Understanding severance pay isn't just for those who are losing their jobs
'This marks a turning point for Paytm, with the regulatory environment looking much clearer than it has been in the last two years.'
The firm earned $11.6 on turning every barrel of crude oil into fuel in the quarter.
Public-sector banks (PSBs) are attracting the attention of investors and the PSU Bank Index has gained nearly 10 per cent in the past month. PSBs have seen return on assets (RoA) climbing to 1 per cent in 2024-2025 (FY25) and margins are believed to have moved up further in the first half of this financial year (H1FY26) with asset quality remaining stable.
From the 30-share blue-chip pack, Bharti Airtel, Power Grid, Bajaj Finance, Nestle, Mahindra & Mahindra, Reliance Industries, Asian Paints, IndusInd Bank, Hindustan Unilever and HDFC Bank were the biggest gainers. Bajaj Finance climbed nearly 2 per cent after the company reported an 18 per cent increase in its consolidated net profit to Rs 4,308 crore for the December quarter.
'They are totally disconnected with farm activities which their families have been involved in for years.'
Co-working spaces provider WeWork India is aiming for a revenue growth of over 20 per cent for the coming years, even as its initial public offering (IPO) with only an offer for sale (OFS) component gets valued at Rs 3,000 crore at the top of the price band. The IPO opens on October 3, a newspaper advertisement said.
Anant Ambani, the youngest son of billionaire Mukesh Ambani and the first among three siblings to be appointed executive director on flagship Reliance Industries, will be paid Rs 10-20 crore salary annually plus a host of perks including a commission on company profits, according to a shareholder notice. While the richest Asian's all three children - twins Akash and Isha, and Anant - were inducted on board of the oil-to-telecom-and-retail conglomerate in 2023 as non-executive directors, the youngest of the three was in April this year appointed executive director of Reliance Industries Ltd.
'...aggressive pricing amid volatility, but these are exceptions.'
As deposit growth lags credit expansion, Indian banks face shrinking low-cost Casa inflows, rising funding costs, and structural shifts driven by UPI, e-Kuber, and digital savings trends, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.