Reserve Bank of India released the data on performance of the private corporate sector during the first quarter of 2025-26, drawn from abridged quarterly financial results of 3,079 listed non-government non-financial companies. Sales of listed private non-financial companies rose by 5.5 per cent (y-o-y) during Q1:2025-26 as compared to 7.1 per cent growth in the previous quarter (6.9 per cent in Q1:2024-25). Aggregate sales growth (y-o-y) of 1,736 listed private manufacturing companies moderated further to 5.3 per cent during Q1:2025-26 from 6.6 per cent in the previous quarter, mainly dragged by weak performance of the petroleum industry. Sales growth (y-o-y) of IT firms declined to 6.0 per cent during Q1:2025-26 from 8.6 per cent in the previous quarter, reversing upward trend seen since Q1:2024-25. Sales growth of non-IT services companies moderated to 7.5 per cent in Q1:2025-26, after recording double-digit growth in the previous three quarters, primarily due to lower sales growth recorded by the transport and storage companies.
Manufacturing companies’ expenses on raw material increased at a slower pace of 4.5 per cent (y-o-y) as compared to 8.3 per cent during previous quarter, in tandem with moderation in sales growth; consequently, raw material to sales ratio moderated to 54.1 per cent during Q1 from 55.2 per cent in the previous quarter. With sequential rise in profits, manufacturing companies’ interest coverage ratio (ICR) improved to 9.1 in Q1:2025-26 from 8.7 in the previous quarter. Within services sector, while ICR of non-IT services companies remained stable, ICR of IT firms continued to remain at elevated level during Q1:2025-26