Today, the Reserve Bank released on its website (https://dbie.rbi.org.in/DBIE/dbie.rbi?site=statistics#!2_44) data relating to finances of non-government non-financial (NGNF) public limited companies for 2018-19, based on audited annual accounts of 16,045 companies accounting for 64.2 per cent of total paid-up capital (PUC) of such companies at end-March 2019. Data have been presented for the three year period of 2016-17 to 2018-19 to facilitate comparison. Explanatory notes to the statements are given in the Annex.

Highlights

• Sales growth accelerated to 15.1 per cent during 2018-19 from 8.7 per cent in the previous year (Statement 1).

• All the major sectors, viz., manufacturing, construction and services, recorded higher sales growth. Within the manufacturing sector, textiles, chemicals, iron and steel, pharmaceuticals, paper and cement industries recorded higher sales, while within services, wholesale and retail trade and real estate registered higher sales (Statement 11).

• Export intensity (measured as the exports to sales ratio) has declined in recent years across major sectors (Statements 2 and 12).

• Borrowings by these companies (from both banks and others) grew by double-digits, resulting in higher leverage especially in the services sector. Their interest coverage ratio (measured by earnings before interest and tax to interest expenses), however, remained stable (Statements 1, 2 and 12).

• Despite input cost pressures on account of higher raw material cost, robust sales growth boosted operating profit during 2018-19. However, the operative profit margin (ratio of operating profit to sales) declined for the second successive year (Statements 2 and 12).

• Net profit growth was higher at the aggregate level mainly due to robust profit growth of manufacturing companies (Statements 1 and 11).

• The nominal GVA growth of these companies increased by 11.1 per cent during 2018-19 (6.5 per cent in the previous year) as the manufacturing as well as services sectors gained momentum (Statements 1 and 11).

Note:

1. Primary source of data is Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA).

Ajit Prasad
Director  

Press Release: 2019-2020/2311