CMIE projects 78 per cent rise in corporates' FY'10 post-tax profits

14 April 2009

India Inc could see its post-tax profits swell nearly 78 per cent in fiscal 2009-10 amidst robust growth, unlike in the previous fiscal 2008-09, the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy said in its latest update.

This is in contrast with the 39.7 per cent decline in corporates' post-tax earnings in the December 2008 quarter, caused by a sudden fall in demand and a steep fall in commodity prices, poor export demand, high cost of borrowings and inventory losses incurred by several companies, the report said.

"India Inc is expected to post a robust 77.9 per cent growth rate in PAT (profit after tax) in 2009-10," the economic think-tank said in the report.

This high growth is attributed to an expected return to profit by the petroleum products sector from January-March 2009 quarter after three quarters of negative or nil growth in the previous two quarters in 2008, according to CMIE.

The earnings of the petroleum sector constitutes more than a third of the profits of the rest of Indian industries.

"Excluding the petroleum product sector, the rest of Indian corporates are expected to report a 23.1 per cent rise in aggregate PAT in 2009-10," the CMIE has said.