First quarter: Story of a slowdown

Mumbai : India Inc’s performance in the April-June quarter signalled that sales growth was robust at 30.3 per cent, the highest in the last five quarters. But growth was largely aided by a small clutch of companies in the oil and gas (O&G) sector, including refineries and oil marketing companies. After taking out these companies, the sales growth dipped to 22.7 per cent.

The preview, based on the estimates of 478 companies by nine brokerage houses, indicated the pressure of input costs was likely to hit operating margins by at least 100 basis points (bps). The companies were expected to post 27 per cent increase in net sales and a strong 25.8 per cent rise in net profit.