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

Incarceration of Prof Saibaba 'revives' the question: What is crime, who is criminal?

By Kunal Pant* In 2016, a Supreme Court Judge asked the state of Maharashtra, “Do you want to extract a pound of flesh?” The statement was directed against the state for contesting the bail plea of Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba. Saibaba was arrested in 2014, a justification for which was to prevent him from committing what the police called “anti-national activities.”

India’s heatwave crisis: How concrete cities are fueling climate emergency

By Rajkumar Sinha* According to recent studies, urban areas are witnessing a much sharper rise in temperatures than rural regions. The planet is currently heading toward an additional 1.9°C of warming — far beyond the target envisioned under the Paris Agreement . A team of climate scientists associated with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has noted that India’s average temperature increased by nearly 0.9°C during the decade between 2015 and 2024 compared to the early twentieth century (1901–1930). In western and northeastern India, the hottest day of the year has already become 1.5°C to 2°C warmer since the 1950s.

Retired civil servants slam CJI’s remarks on environmental litigants

By A Representative An open letter issued on May 22, 2026, by the Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG), comprising 71 retired civil servants from the All India and Central Services, has strongly criticized recent remarks made by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) against environmental litigants.

Counterview

Search This Blog