Oil companies spoil first quarter show at India Inc

Oil seems to have played the role of a spoiler in the overall quarterly results for the India Inc in the quarter ended June 2009.

Profit growth for 166 companies of the BSE 500 that announced their results by the weekend had posted a cumulative profit growth of 12 per cent while net sales growth stood at 2.4 per cent.

However, India Inc’s performance in the quarter shoots up significantly if Reliance Industries and ONGC are excluded from this list. The profit growth in that case rises to 29 per cent and the revenue growth at 11.7 per cent.

“The results are much better than expected but the profits growth figure will go down further as more results come in primarily from the commodity driven sectors,” said Amitabh Chakraborty, president, equity, at Religare Enterprises.

With the global average crude price dropping to $60 a barrel in the quarter from $125 a year ago, Reliance and ONGC were hit. The two companies account for almost 25 per cent of the profits booked by the 166 companies in the list.

Banks did well, with profit growth for the 16 banks at 66 per cent, aided by treasury gains. Information technology firms also did well, registering a 32 per cent year-on-year profit growth, helped by a weaker rupee.