Skip to main content

Indian companies' profit margins 'still not showing' signs of improvement: IIM-A survey

By A Representative
The Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad’s (IIM-A’s) Business Inflation Expectations Survey (BIES), released last week, has said the profit margins of 75% of the firms have been failing to show any signs of improvement, a trend which has has continued since June 2019. “Overall”, the BIES report says, “The profit margin scenario is still not showing any clear signs of improvement.”
BIES selects companies primarily from the manufacturing sector, and the survey results are based on the responses of over 1,200 companies. The survey report says, “The cost perceptions data shows that the signs of significant cost pressures building up have ebbed”, adding, “Nearly 47% of the firms believe that the current cost increase is 3.1% and above as compared to the same time last year. Over 1/4th of the firms perceive that the current cost increase is over 6%.”
As for the sales perception, the report says, “Data still does not show clear signs of recovery”, adding, “In January 2020, around 70% of the firms in the sample reported that sales are ‘somewhat or much less than normal’ as against 72% reporting in December 2019. This proportion has remained around 70% since June 2019.”

Comments

TRENDING

The making of a self-made woman: How eighty sheep changed everything for Kalawati Ninama

By Vikas Meshram*  About forty-two kilometres from Rajasthan's Banswara district, in the tribal heartland of Ghatol block, lies the small village of Ubapana. This is where Kalawati Ninama, her husband Dhulji, and their four children make their home. Their days unfold much like those of their neighbours—bustling mornings, long hours of farm labour through the afternoon, and evenings spent tending livestock. For this family, farming and livestock were once simply a means of putting food on the table. Today, they have become the sturdy foundation of something far greater: genuine self-sufficiency.

India has spent billions on skilling. Where are the jobs?

By Vikas Gupta   India loves the photograph of a certificate ceremony. A minister on a stage. A banner bearing the word “skill.” Young people holding folders that promise a future. It is a reassuring image because it tells us the problem has a manageable answer: train the young, make them job-ready, and work will follow.

BAPS, the Eiffel Tower and the curious silence on secularism

By Rajiv Shah   I was a little surprised to see how some of those whom I respect for taking a firm stand on patriarchal issues reacted to the manner in which they responded to the recent incident in Paris, in which women employees of the Eiffel Tower were asked to remain "invisible" on September 5 when 100 BAPS sadhus visited one of the world's top tourist destinations.