‘India Inc’s Q3 topline may witness lowest rise in six quarters’

India Inc’s revenue growth is expected to slip to a six-quarter low of 7 per cent on a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis in the December 2014 quarter.

This tepid show will be due to weak performance of investment-linked sectors, stable currency exchange rates impacting topline growth of export-oriented sectors, and weak global commodity prices, says a study by rating agency Crisil.

Revenue growth was around 9 per cent in the preceding quarter and 13 per cent in the December 2013 quarter. On the profitability front though, the Crisil study has forecast a marginal uptick in profit margins.

Capital goods manufacturers, continuing to grapple with weak order inflows, are likely to report a 9 per cent y-o-y decline in revenues.

While construction companies will report a slight uptick in topline growth, “IT service providers are expected to report 10-11 per cent revenue growth y-o-y (in dollar terms) in Q3, similar to the growth recorded in each of the preceding 6 quarters”, Crisil said.

Among domestic consumption-oriented sectors, automobile revenues are forecast to grow at 7 per cent, propelled by higher domestic sales of commercial vehicles. Others forecast to report above average topline growth include FMCG, telecom (spike in data usage), and pharmaceuticals.