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Journalism of Courage
The third quarter net profit of 70 early-bird companies increased by 26.97 per cent to Rs 1,668.60 crore during October-December 2003 from Rs 1,314.18 crore during October-December 2002, indicating that better times for India Inc are expected to continue.
However, the increase needs to be taken cautiously since the performance has been substantially boosted by the presence of several public and private sector banks like Allahabad Bank, IndusInd Bank and HDFC Bank and Infosys Techno, SSI and Hughes Software Systems in the IT sector. Among the other performers responsible for boosting the overall profits growth rate of the early birds were Finolex Industries, Jindal Polyester, Orchid Chemicals, Ruchi Soya, L G Balakrishnan & Bros, Varun Shipping, Mercator Lines and Liberty Shoes. Aggregate sales of the 70 companies rose by 3.7 per cent to Rs 11,159 crore (Rs 10,758 crore) during October-December 2003. Other income of these companies also increased by 18.8 per cent to Rs 761.92 crore during the same period. Operating profit rose by 1.0 per cent from Rs 4,819.63 crore to Rs 4,866.66 crore. Gross profit also rose by 12.06 per cent to Rs 2,830.18 crore (Rs 2,525.55 crore).This was probably due to the significant increases in gross profit by Finolex Industries(83.01%), Digital Globalsoft(122.04%), SSI(130.02%), Mercator Lines(337.11%), Liberty Shoes(106.45%) and India Gelatine(97.14%).
