Page 17 - Icra

India Inc's profit margin narrows in Dec quarter on high inflation: Icra

India Inc's operating profit margin narrowed by a sharp 2.37 per cent in the December quarter to 16.3 per cent on an annual basis due to inflation and rising energy costs, a domestic ratings agency said on Monday. When viewed sequentially, the operating profit margin for the December quarter expanded by 1.80 per cent over the preceding September quarter, Icra Ratings said, attributing the same to the easing in input costs and also price hikes by many companies. Going forward, while price hikes and sequential input cost reductions can boost margins in the near term, geopolitical tensions, recessionary concerns, and forex volatility continue to pose risks, the agency said. The revenue of companies, excluding those in the financial sector, grew 17.2 per cent, which was as per expectations, the agency said, adding that hotels, oil and gas, auto, airlines, and power sectors led the way. However, the revenue growth was a muted 1.4 per cent from a sequential perspective due to inflationar

Investments worth Rs 1.5 trn likely on data centres in next six years: Icra

Current data centre capacity in India pegged at 870 Mw. Country likely to add 4,900-5,000 Mw; Mumbai, Hyderabad and NCR to hold 70-75% of overall installed capacity

Data centre capacities in India to rise six-fold in next six years: Icra

Mumbai, Hyderabad and the National Capital Region (NCR) will account for 70-75 per cent of the installed DC capacity

Commercial vehicle industry volumes to see 7-10% growth in FY24: Icra

The commercial vehicle industry volume is expected to grow in the range of 7-10 per cent in the next financial year, rating agency Icra said on Tuesday. The volume growth would be on account of government infrastructure spending, replacement demand, back-to-school and office scenarios and e-commerce expansion, it noted. The growth will, however, moderate from 24-26 per cent in the current financial year, it added. Icra noted that the growth trends were visible in third quarter of the current fiscal, with wholesale dispatches reporting a growth of 16 per cent on a year-on-year basis, supported by replacement demand, improvement in the macroeconomic environment, and healthy traction in the underlying industries such as steel, cement, mining, automobiles, and e-commerce. Freight rates continued to hold up, which, coupled with healthy freight availability, is supporting fleet operator viability, it noted. The growth trends continued to be broad-based across all the three sub-segments

Inflation-linked road toll rate hike to be modest at 2-5% in FY24: Icra

Credit rating agency Icra on Monday said the inflation-linked toll hike should be relatively modest at 2-5 per cent in FY24 as compared to 8.7-14.6 per cent last fiscal

NBFCs' collection efficiency to remain strong even after rate hike: Icra

A day after the Reserve Bank delivered another rate hike, a domestic ratings agency on Thursday said the increases will not impact collection efficiencies for non-bank lenders. This is so primarily because of the collaterals given by borrowers and the priority they accord to repayments, Icra Ratings said. The RBI has hiked rates in five consecutive policy reviews since May 2022 in order to curb inflation, which has led to an overall jump in the interest rates in the system. The agency said typically housing loans and loans against property pools carry interest rate risks. "... the continuation of rate hikes will not have a significant bearing on the collection efficiencies given the association of the borrower with the underlying collateral (residential properties) and the priority given by borrowers to repay such loans," it said. The agency added that the collection efficiency is expected to remain robust on the back of strong outlook for majority of the sectors though impact of

Domestic air passenger traffic up by 96% in Jan from last year: Icra

Domestic air passenger traffic touched 1.25 crore in January this year, an increase of 96 per cent compared to the year-ago period, according to rating agency Icra. However, it said the traffic remained around 2 per cent lower compared to the pre-Covid levels -- January 2020. The traffic stood at 64 lakh in January last year. Icra is maintaining a negative outlook on the Indian aviation industry, reflecting the view that the financial performance of Indian airlines is likely to remain under pressure in the near term, even though the recovery in domestic passenger traffic has been healthy. While a meaningful improvement in passenger traffic is expected in FY2023, the pace of recovery in the industry earnings will be gradual, it said on Wednesday. Icra noted that the net loss in FY2023 is expected to be notably lower compared to Rs 235 billion (RS 23,500 crore) net loss in FY2022, primarily due to recovery in passenger traffic, fare hikes and lower interest burden. In January this y

MPC's optimistic growth outlook augurs well for credit demand

The MPC's optimistic growth outlook for H2 FY2024 augurs well for the credit demand for the banking sector as well as the lenders, said Karthik Srinivasan of Icra

Indian IT services industry's growth might drop in near to mid-term: Icra

The growth momentum of Indian IT services industry is likely to slow down in the near to mid term as macroeconomic headwinds trigger lower discretionary IT spends, ICRA said on Monday. Ratings agency ICRA sees lower hiring by the IT service companies in the near term given that excess capacities were added in FY2022 and expects moderation in demand compared to previous fiscals amid macroeconomic headwinds. Indian IT services companies have witnessed a moderation in growth in the last two quarters in constant currency terms owing to the base effect and evolving macroeconomic headwinds in key markets of the US and Europe. Due to these headwinds, the decision-making towards discretionary IT spending has seen a slight deferment, while the cost optimisation deals continue to generate stable demand, it noted. "Growth momentum for the Indian IT services industry likely to slow down in the near to medium term," ICRA said in a statement. The slowdown is on account of evolving macroeconomic

Eco Survey paints a bright medium-term outlook after an unpredictable year

It says once the global shocks of the pandemic and 2022's unpleasant spike in commodity prices fade away, the Indian economy is likely to record a faster growth during the rest of this decade

5G infra to cost Rs 3 trn in next 4-5 yrs amid elevated debt levels: Icra

India currently has around 35 per cent of its towers fiberised for 5G and the backhaul infrastructure will cost a whopping Rs 3 lakh crore over the next 4-5 years, rating agency Icra said on Monday

States' interest cost inches up as borrowing grows 8%: Icra Ratings

After remaining stable for many weeks, the cost of borrowing for states inched up by 5 basis points to 7.64 per cent at Tuesday's auction when 15 of them raised Rs 25,700 crore from the market. The amount of debt raised today is a 13-week high and for the first time shows an annualised growth of 8 per cent year-to-date -- a first as throughout the year, the weekly borrowing has been below the year-ago weeks, yet 15 per cent lower than the indicated amount in the borrowing calendar, according to a note by Icra Ratings. The weighted average cut-off on state government loans rose 5 basis points to 7.64 per cent over the previous week, and the weighted average tenor rose to 13 years from 11 during the week. The spread between the 10-year state bonds and G-sec (government securities) yield stood at 30 basis points today, amidst an inverted yield curve, according to Aidti Nayar, chief economist and head research and outreach at Icra, said. States have cumulatively raised Rs 5.12 lakh cro

India's auto sector to grow at high single digit in FY2023-24: ICRA

The two-wheeler industry continues to struggle with industry volumes still below the pre-covid peak levels

Dec traffic at major ports sails to highest in FY23, rises 10.4 per cent

Twelve major ports handled cargo of 69.5 million tonnes in December, which is highest during current fiscal year

Toll projects may see moderate to high single-digit growth in FY24: Icra

Rating agency ICRA on Tuesday said that toll road projects in the country are likely to see moderate to high single-digit growth in FY24 with moderation in the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation

Central govt's borrowings may touch Rs 14.8 trillion in FY24: Icra report

Nevertheless, as a proportion of GDP, fiscal deficit is expected to ease to 5.8 per cent from 6.4 per cent

Securitisation volumes likely to jump to Rs 1.70 trn in FY23: Icra

Securitisation volumes for FY23 can reach Rs 1,70 lakh crore, as against Rs 1,26,500 crore in FY22, a domestic rating agency estimated on Wednesday

Hospital sector likely to post healthy growth in FY23: ICRA report

Aggregate bed occupancy seen at 64% due to 'sustained improvement in demand', says agency

Bond issuance by banks to touch record Rs 1.3 trn in FY23: Report

They raised more than Rs 73,000 crore in FY22, says rating agency ICRA

Domestic air passenger traffic grew 15% to 12.9 mn in Dec 2022: Report

Domestic air passenger traffic grew 15 per cent year-on-year to around 129 lakh in December 2022 but remained 1 per cent lower than the pre-pandemic level (December 2019), rating agency Icra said on Thursday. Icra has also maintained a 'Negative' outlook on the Indian aviation industry. In the April-December period of the current fiscal, domestic passenger traffic is estimated at around 986 lakh, registering around 63 per cent year-on-year growth and lower by approximately 9 per cent compared to April-December 2019 (pre-COVID levels), it said. At the same time, the airlines deployed slightly higher capacity (less than 1 per cent) in the previous month over the year-ago period, the rating agency said, adding that it, however, was lower by around 7 per cent than the pre-COVID levels. According to Icra, the domestic aviation industry operated at an estimated passenger load factor of around 91 per cent in December 2022 against approximately 80 per cent in December 2021 and about 88 per