The Railway Budget was a mixed bag for India Inc with industry bodies cautioning that the hike in freight charges will fuel inflation, while other chambers said some proposals if implemented could set the growth multiplier in motion.
India Inc is unfazed by the sharp fall of the rupee against the greenback as most big firms have already hedged their foreign exchange exposures.
From offering office premises that can be converted into isolation wards to earmarking funds to be used for procuring kits, ventilators as well as personal protective equipment for health care workers, India Inc has put a united front to combat the unprecedented crisis facing the country.
India Inc and economic think-tanks want the Budget to tax the agriculture income of large farmers for equity in the system and widening the net.
The Mumbai-based Arch Pharma has raised $27 million from private equity funding in the last four years
After the hit of the pandemic, India Inc is now worried about the adverse impact of inflation and higher commodity prices on their revenues and margins. The inflation scare is the strongest among manufacturers of consumer goods such as automobiles, consumer durables, and fast-moving capital goods (FMCG). Companies across sectors fear they will not be able to pass on the hike in input costs to their consumers due to weak demand, which, in turn, would lead to a hit on margins and profitability in the forthcoming quarters.
Expressing dissatisfaction over the RBI decision to keep interest rates unchanged, India Inc today said rate cuts were needed to make the industry invest more and drive economic growth.
From being a net earner of foreign exchange ten years ago, India Inc turned into a net spender of forex.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today came in for fulsome praise from India Inc with RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani hailing him as a leader with "grand vision" and his younger brother Anil Ambani of ADAG putting him in the league of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel.
Ratan Tata, an iconic corporate leader, retired as Chairman of the $100-billion Tata Group on Friday after a 50-year run, on his 75th birthday.
India Inc has given the United Progressive Alliance government a 65 per cent score, a shade better than Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's
India Inc's order-books swelled to Rs 37,666 crore (Rs 376.66 billion) in the first quarter of the financial year 2008-2009, up 93 per cent from Rs 19,520 crore (Rs 195.2 billion) for the same period last year. In the fourth quarter of 2007-08, the order-book had increased by 121 per cent to Rs 42,545 crore
Results of 138 firms show revenue growth has declined further, but net profits are up
The sample, however, is still small as it includes only six of the 30 Sensex companies - Infosys, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, TCS, ITC and Bajaj Auto - that have declared results so far.
The average attrition rate grew at 21 per cent in Indian firms during July-September quarter, a rise of 4 percentage points from the preceding quarter (April-June).
India Inc is likely to witness a continuing surge in merger and acquisition activities after a record number of M&A deals in the first half of 2006 -- aggregating to more than $25 billion.\n\n
Indian companies raised over $3.41 billion overseas in December through external commercial borrowings (ECBs) and foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said.
Budget would have cascading impact on inflation and consumer demand.
Most expect a 25 bps rate hike today, but want pause.
"A committee is working on it. We have also asked the MCA (Ministry of Corporate Affairs) to broaden the scope of section 55 of Companies Act 1956 which is now clause 22 of Companies Bill," SEBI Executive Director Usha Narayanan said at an Assocham event in New Delhi.
An analysis of 989 companies that account for 52 per cent of the total market capitalisation on the Bombay Stock Exchange shows net profit growth of 2.7 per cent over the previous year was reported mainly due to strong profit numbers registered by players in banking, cement, information technology, pharmaceuticals and fast moving consumer goods.
High interest rates have been discouraging fresh investments and dragged industrial production down for nearly two years now.
The combined dividend payout by early-bird companies -- those that have declared their results for FY21 -- is up 8.9 per cent, lower than the 21.9 per cent rise in in FY20 but ahead of the underlying growth in India Inc business last year. Combined net sales of these early birds were down 1.8 per cent last financial year while net profit was up 27.3 per cent in FY21. Some top companies that have stepped up dividend payout in FY21 include Hindustan Unilever, Indus Towers, Tata Steel, Ultratech Cement, Larsen & Toubro, Dabur, Asian Paints, and UPL. In contrast, banks have skipped dividends under an RBI diktat while companies such as Marico, TCS, Maruti Suzuki, and Godrej Consumer are paying lower dividends for FY21.
