Toothpaste firm's numbers show India Inc profits won't survive costs, Covid

Consumers won't stop brushing their teeth, but they will look for cheaper ways to do so.

Lately, India has had very little to smile about. Something that Colgate-Palmolive Co.’s tepid growth in the world’s pandemic epicenter amply demonstrates. The toothpaste maker’s results this week offer a fresh look at a puzzle: the Indian stock market’s apparent disregard for the country’s worst humanitarian disaster in almost 75 years.

Scientists are forecasting 1.2 million deaths by end-August, hospitals are running out of beds and oxygen, and bodies are being dumped in the Ganges river, yet the Nifty 50 index is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 31. Even after softening somewhat since February, valuations are still rich. In