An astonishing recovery

The rise in corporate earnings in FY21 was largely led by a handful of big companies in price-sensitive sectors such as metals and mining, and oil and gas.

The financial year 2020-21 was one of recovery for corporates after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in the last quarter of FY20 and the subsequent national lockdown brought economic activity to a halt in the April-June 2020 quarter. Listed companies have, however, recovered most of their loss in revenues and profits in the second half of FY21, and this shows up in the numbers. The combined revenues of BS1000 companies were down just 6.1 per cent in FY21 over the previous year, despite a complete washout in the first quarter of the fiscal.

The recovery in earnings was even more