Nearly 500 listed companies can't meet interest outgo from their earnings

The highest proportion of firms unable to meet their interest payments from earnings was 19.1 per cent in March 2017--the quarter after demonetisation.

A total of 484 listed non-financial companies have an interest coverage ratio lower than 1, indicating their earnings are not enough to meet their interest payments.  

The number works out to 16.3 per cent of a sample of 2,971 listed companies, excluding banks and financial institutions included in the sample. This is higher than the 14.9 per cent seen for a similar sample in September last year, but lower than the 17.1 per cent in March 2019 (see adjoining chart).

In all the 484 companies had a total outstanding debt of Rs 5.6 trillion at the end of September this