Crisil said on Thursday that India Inc is expected to post an 18-20% revenue growth for July to September period as compared to the year ago period. The projection comes ahead of quarterly earnings by companies. The domestic ratings agency said that higher volume and commodity prices will drive the topline’s growth. However, compared to the preceding quarter, the agency also said that the increasing input prices may have capped operating profit margin expansion for companies.
After the beginning of the pandemic, companies had taken a cautious approach immediately and resorted to a plethora of cost control measures including cuts in salary which resulted in businesses being largely protected even as demand dwindled down.
It said that the recovery for the second quarter was seen across sectors, led by higher volumes and commodity prices. Volume gains can be attributed to the low base of the second quarter of fiscal 2021, which saw regional lockdowns and slower economic activity.
The ratings agency said that, from a sample set of 300 companies representing 40 sectors, 24 are expected to have grown by over 20%.
It further added that overall growth is projected to be a notch lower at 15-17%, if the commodity-linked sectors like steel products and aluminium is excluded.
In the second quarter of FY 22, revenue is likely to have risen 8 to 10% on a sequential basis as demand was impacted in the first quarter due to the second wave of Covid-19.
Overall revenue is expected to have touched Rs 15.8 lakh crore for the first half of fiscal 2022, which increased by 30-32% over the first half of fiscal 2021, it said.
Consumer discretionary and construction will be driving the revenue growth, while telecom will also be in the positive territory, it said, from a sectoral perspective.