Sales of listed private non-financial companies registered a growth of 6.9% in the fourth quarter of 2023-24 compared to a 5.5% rise in the previous quarter, according to the Reserve Bank data released on Thursday. The sales growth of these companies was 8% in the January-March quarter of 2022-23.
The RBI has released data on the performance of the private corporate sector during the fourth quarter of 2023-24, drawn from abridged quarterly financial results of 2,823 listed non-government non-financial companies.
According to the data, aggregate sales growth year-on-year of 1,669 listed private manufacturing companies increased to 6.1% during Q4 FY24 from 3.7% in the previous quarter.
The growth was aided by sales acceleration in automobiles, petroleum, electrical machinery and pharmaceutical industries.
The RBI further said that the annual growth in sales of the information technology (IT) sector moderated to 3.1% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal from 3.2% in the preceding quarter and 16% a year ago.
Sales of non-IT services companies remained buoyant and recorded 10.4% growth year-on-year in the January-March quarter of 2023-24 against a 20.5% increase in the corresponding three months of the preceding fiscal.
On the expenditure front, the RBI said that with the rise in input and staff costs, manufacturing companies' expenses rose by 4.6% year-on-year in Q4 FY24.
"The pace of rise in activities influenced the growth in staff cost, which has been moderating for IT companies but remained healthy for manufacturing and non-IT segments," it added.
Staff cost-to-sales ratio remained largely unchanged at 5.3%, 49.4%, and 10.9% for manufacturing, IT and non-IT services companies, respectively, during the fourth quarter of the fiscal ending March 2024.
Operating profit of manufacturing, IT and non-IT services companies rose year-on-year 8.7%, 3.5% and 16.3%, respectively, during the fourth quarter of 2023-24.
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