Mumbai: Sales of listed manufacturing sector companies grew 6 per cent during 2024-25 as against a growth of 3.5 per cent in the previous year, led by automobiles, electrical machinery, food and beverages, and pharmaceuticals industries, according to RBI data.
On the other hand, among key industries, petroleum and iron and steel sectors recorded a contraction in their sales during 2024-25, it said.
On Thursday, the Reserve Bank released data on the performance of the private corporate sector during 2024-25 prepared from the abbreviated financial results of 3,902 listed non-government non-financial (NGNF) companies.
During 2024-25, sales growth of listed private non-financial companies accelerated to 7.2 percent from a low of 4.7 percent in the previous year, it said.
“Despite global challenges, sales growth of IT companies accelerated to 7.1 percent during 2024-25 from 5.5 percent in the previous year,” the RBI said. Non-IT services companies recorded double-digit sales growth during 2024-25, led by good performance of telecom, transport and storage services, and wholesale and retail trade industries. Also, in line with the sales pickup, raw material expenditure of manufacturing companies increased by 6.6 percent during 2024-25; the raw material-to-sales ratio increased to 55.7 per cent in 2024-25 from 54.2 per cent a year ago, pointing to input cost pressures. Further, employee costs for manufacturing, IT and non-IT services companies increased by 10 percent, 4.4 percent and 12 percent, respectively, during 2024-25; the employee cost-to-sales ratio for manufacturing companies remained broadly stable, while it declined for services companies. The data showed that with the increase in input costs, the operating profit growth of manufacturing companies declined to 6 percent during 2024-25 from 12.4 percent in the previous year.
In the services sector, profit growth for non-IT services companies declined to 15.9 percent in 2024-25, while for IT companies it increased to 6.1 percent.
During 2024-25, the operating profit margin for manufacturing, IT and non-IT services companies declined by 20 basis points (bps), 80 bps and 30 bps to 14.2 percent, 21.9 percent and 22.1 percent, respectively.
