Today, the Reserve Bank released data on the performance of the private corporate sector during 2023-24 drawn from abridged financial results of 3,281 listed non-government non-financial (NGNF) companies. These also include data for 2022-23 to enable comparison (web-link https://data.rbi.org.in/DBIE/#/dbie/reports/Statistics/Corporate%20Sector/Listed%20Non-Government%20Non-Financial%20Companies)

Highlights

Sales

• Annual sales growth of listed private non-financial companies moderated to 4.7 per cent during 2023-24 from the high of 19.8 per cent in 2022-23, which included the post-pandemic recovery period (Table 1A).

• Among major sectors, sales of manufacturing, information technology (IT) and non-IT services companies rose by 3.5 per cent, 5.5 per cent and 7.9 per cent, respectively, during 2023-24 as compared with 18.0 per cent, 19.4 per cent and 33.5 per cent, respectively, in the previous year (Tables 2A).

• During 2023-24, sales of automobiles, electrical machinery and pharmaceuticals industries remained buoyant but the manufacturing sector’s overall performance was mainly dragged by chemicals and petroleum industries; barring computer & electronic equipments and pharmaceuticals, all sub-sectors recorded deceleration in sales growth (Tables 2A and 5A).

Expenditure

• Easing input cost pressures and low sales growth kept the overall expenses on raw materials by manufacturing companies unchanged from the previous year; raw material to sales ratio moderated to 54.2 per cent in 2023-24 from 55.8 per cent a year ago (Table 2A, 2B and 5A).

• Staff cost rose by 10.8 per cent, 6.6 per cent and 15.6 per cent (y-o-y) during 2023-24 for manufacturing, IT and non-IT services companies, respectively; staff cost to sales ratio moderated for IT companies in 2023-24 while it increased for manufacturing and non-IT companies (Table 2A and 2B).

Interest

• The interest coverage ratio (ICR)¹ remained stable for manufacturing and IT companies in 2023-24, while it improved for non-IT services companies (Table 2B).

Profit

• During 2023-24, the listed private non-financial companies recorded double-digit annual growth in profits and improved margins at the aggregate level; operating profit growth accelerated for manufacturing companies (12.4 per cent) and non-IT services companies (27.9 per cent), while it moderated for IT companies (5.6 per cent) (Tables 1A, 1B and 2A).

• Operating profit margin improved across major sectors during 2023-24; it stood at 14.4 per cent, 22.4 per cent and 22.7 per cent for manufacturing, non-IT services and IT companies, respectively (Table 2B).

List of Tables

Notes:

• Explanatory notes containing the methodology followed for compilation of data, and the glossary (including revised definitions and calculations that differ from previous releases) are appended.

Ajit Prasad          
Deputy General Manager
(Communications)    

Press Release: 2024-2025/589

¹ ICR (i.e., ratio of earnings before interest and tax to interest expenses) is a measure of debt servicing capacity of a company. The minimum value for a viable ICR is 1.