One year of lockdown: A roller coaster ride continues for India Inc

It has been a roller-coaster ride for India Inc over the past 12 months. While the lockdown shaved off revenues in most sectors, with the exception of financial services and IT, the decline in profits was even sharper.

On an annualised basis, net profit plummeted 69 per cent in Q1, while revenues fell 7.5 per cent. After unlock, corporate profits recovered faster than top line growth, led by banks and commodity companies. On the operations side, a large part of the post-pandemic jump in profits came from lower operating costs and higher margins.