Low-base effect to kick in, but higher raw material prices could spoil the show.
Only 13 have seen a turnaround while 17 have been in the red in this quarter as well as the corresponding quarter of last year.
India Inc's order book has more than doubled to an all-time high of Rs 73,320 crore in the second quarter of the current financial year, compared to the first quarter.
The slowdown in capital expansion is clearly seen in the current financial year. Large sectors such as cement, metal, oil and gas, power and telecom have provided negligible funds in the first quarter for their capex plans.
The 15 IT companies that have declared results so far together clocked 8.4 per cent growth in revenue, the slowest since 2001, largely due to a poor show from Wipro, Tech Mahindra and Polaris Software. But Infosys Technologies and TCS excel, with double-digit growth in year-on-year revenue from software exports.
In absolute terms, capex spending has risen by Rs 228,000 crore (Rs 2,280 billion), despite declining profits and a 37 per cent decline in fund flow from financial markets in 2008-09. The capital-intensive sectors of India Inc do not find the current environment a deterrent to push ongoing expansion and so they continue with capex plans. The study looks at 323 listed companies whose capex spending data for 2008-09 is available.
India Inc's quarterly profit registered its biggest drop since the stock market regulator made it mandatory for firms to announce quarterly results in March 1998.
The results of quarter ended December 07 are less impressive than the corresponding quarter last fiscal. However, it is premature to conclude about the overall performance of companies.
The software sector has once again underlined its importance to the country by accounting for more than half of the total jobs created by Indian industry in the last financial year.
Till 15 days ago, only two PSUs - Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) - ranked amongst the five most valuable companies. But with two more PSUs, Mineral and Metals Trading Corporation (MMTC) and National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), seeing sustained rise in the last three months, the number has risen to four.
India ranks second in capital market inflows and fourth in merger and acquisition deals in Asia Pacific (including Japan), as deals worth $65.033 billion were reported in the first eight months of calendar 2007.
India Inc's first quarter scorecard has been mixed so far. While net profit growth has shot up, the 154 companies that have declared their results have faltered on the turnover growth rate.
The early birds have set a scorching pace in the quarter ended March 2007, with around 120 companies posting a 28.6 per cent rise in sales and a hefty 57.8 per cent rise in net profit.
Open interest, the carry-forward position of stock market participants, increased by Rs 18,000 crore (Rs 180 billion) -- nearly 50 per cent -- in the first six days of the December contract, whose trading began on the first day of this month.
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