Sensex firms' net profit soars 27%

India Inc has treated investors to a fabulous earnings season, with the 30 blue-chip firms present on the stock market benchmark Sensex alone posting a net profit of over Rs 22,000 crore in the July-September quarter.

The 30 corporate giants, led by the country's two most valued firms ONGC and Reliance Industries, recorded a jump of 27% in their net profit, while their turnover soared 31% to about Rs 1,38,000 crore in the second quarter from the year-ago levels.

State-run energy giant ONGC and Mukesh Ambani group flagship RIL led the pack as the two most profitable companies, while the top-two turnover positions have been swapped between them, an analysis of Q2-FY'07 performance of all 30 Sensex companies shows.

ONGC and RIL have topped the net profit and turnover charts respectively, even after clubbing together the figures of all companies owned by any given business house.

According to the data available with stock exchanges, ONGC reported net profit of about Rs 4,174 crore and total revenue of about Rs 15,000 crore in the latest quarter, while RIL's net profit and total income stood at Rs 2,709 crore and Rs 20,939 crore respectively.

However, the Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-ADAG) lags way behind at tenth position in the net profit chart and eighth rank in terms of turnover. The combined net profit and turnover of two R-ADAG companies, Reliance Communications and Reliance Energy stood at Rs 682 crore and Rs 4,421 crore respectively.