Corporate earnings hit fresh roadblocks in Q1

Flat profit growth in June quarter as consumption takes a knock and exporters continue to struggle

Dalal Street’s hopes of double-digit growth in corporate earnings for the financial year 2017-18 after three years of poor showing look exaggerated, given the weak performance of corporate India during the first quarter of the fiscal year.

The combined net profit (adjusted for exceptional gains or losses) of 1,261 companies — excluding those in the oil and gas, and banking sectors — was up just 0.3 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) during the April-June 2017 quarter, only a notch better than the 1 per cent decline during the March 2017 quarter.

In comparison, the sample net profit was up 6.3 per