Finance cost weighs on India Inc's earnings in Q3; operating profit dips

Interest expense rises at fastest clip in 17 quarters in Q3

After supporting India Inc’s profits for two-and-a-half years since the outbreak of Covid-19 at the end of the fourth quarter of financial year 2019-20 (FY20), interest rates and finance costs have become a drag on corporate earnings.

The increase in such costs comes on the back of interest rate hikes by central banks around the world in an attempt to cool inflation, which shot up in 2022 because of supply disruptions caused by the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The monetary policy committee of the Reserve Bank of India is expected to increase the repo rate by a further