We at SundayET crunched six different set of figures and spoke to the backroom boys — and we added to that a ranking of BSE 500 companies, all this to see who in India Inc rode out the storm and came up winners in terms of overall performance. Here’s what we found: companies that managed to emerge winners or hold on to their turf, did so on the basis of a paradigm shift — or to put it simply, a change in their corporate strategy.
The winners in the slowdown conundrum that took the top 10 positions, a couple surprisingly so, include Reliance Industries, Indian Oil Corporation, NTPC, MMTC, Bharti Airtel, NMDC, State Bank of India, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, Infosys Technologies and Larsen & Toubro.
Following are the top 25 companies that managed to emerge winners or hold on to their turf during the global economic slowdown.
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Ranking in 2009: 1
Net sales growth during FY09: 9.63%
Net profit growth during FY09: 2.27%
Reliance Industries, although, did not show any impressive growth figures but the absolute numbers have been so large that there was no close competition and so it made the top billing quite easily. The net sales of Reliance Industries went up by merely 10% in FY09, whereas, net profit grew by just 2%. And while stocks of Reliance Industries did not perform remarkably well during the last one-year, the market capitalization appreciated by 3%.
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Ranking in 2009: 2
Net sales growth during FY09: 16.13%
Net profit growth during FY09: -57.64%
The second ranker, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) posted a net sales growth of 16% during FY09 against 14% a year ago. However, though there was a dip in net profit in FY09, the market performance was impressive. The market capitalization of the company went up by 48%.
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Ranking in 2009: 3
Net sales growth during FY09: 13.87%
Net profit growth during FY09: 10.61%
National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) was at third position. In fact, NTPC gave cut-throat competition to IOC. The performance of NTPC in the ranking was much better than IOC on every front, but since net sales of IOC was much higher than that of NTPC, IOC scored higher. As far as financial performance of NTPC was concerned, net sales and net profit grew by around 14% and 11% respectively during FY09.
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Ranking in 2009: 4
Net sales growth during FY09: 39.69%
Net profit growth during FY09: -17.49%
India's largest international trading company MMTC Limited was at fourth position.
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Ranking in 2009: 5
Net sales growth during FY09: 32.33%
Net profit growth during FY09: 24.02%
Telecom major, Bharti Airtel, which posted an impressive financial performance, however, failed to rake in good returns for its investors, as performance on Dalal Street was poor. The market capitalisation of the company declined marginally.
NMDC:
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Ranking in 2009: 6
Net sales growth during FY09: 32.44%
Net profit growth during FY09: 34.49%
State-owned mining company National Mineral Development Corporation Limited (NMDC) was at sixth position.
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Ranking in 2009: 7
Net sales growth during FY09: 30.31%
Net profit growth during FY09: 35.55%
Not just size but also the robust growth of State Bank of India (SBI), the largest bank in India, helped it to feature among the top ten league at the 7th position. It maintained 30% growth in its net sales and net profit. In fact, the market capitalization also increased by almost the same percentage.
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Ranking in 2009: 8
Net sales growth during FY09: 35.25%
Net profit growth during FY09: 9.75%
India's largest engineering and manufacturing enterprise in the energy-related and infrastructure sector, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) was at eighth position.
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Ranking in 2009: 9
Net sales growth during FY09: 29.50%
Net profit growth during FY09: 30.18%
Bangalore-based multinational information technology services company Infosys Technologies was at ninth position.
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Ranking in 2009: 10
Net sales growth during FY09: 35.65%
Net profit growth during FY09: 60.19%
India-based conglomerate in engineering and construction sector, Larsen & Toubro was at tenth position.
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Ranking in 2009: 11
Net sales growth during FY09: 0.99%
Net profit growth during FY09: -9.61%
Among the other top rankers in the banking industry was ICICI Bank with 11th position.
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Ranking in 2009: 12
Net sales growth during FY09: 9.93%
Net profit growth during FY09: -18.07%
India's largest integrated iron and steel producer Steel Authority of India (SAIL) was at 12th position.
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Ranking in 2009: 13
Net sales growth during FY09: 16.72%
Net profit growth during FY09: -53.44%
State-owned oil retailer Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) was at 13th position.
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Ranking in 2009: 14
Net sales growth during FY09: 22.49%
Net profit growth during FY09: 4.16%
Asia's largest provider of information technology and business process outsourcing services, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), was at 14th position.
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Ranking in 2009: 15
Net sales growth during FY09: 9.88%
Net profit growth during FY09: 4.60%
Indian conglomerate ITC Limited, which previously stood for Imperial Tobacco Company of India Limited, was at 15th position.
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Ranking in 2009: 16
Net sales growth during FY09: 13.05%
Net profit growth during FY09: -49.34%
State-owned oil marketing company Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) was at 16th position.
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Ranking in 2009: 17
Net sales growth during FY09: 1.45%
Net profit growth during FY09: -9.03%
Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group's Reliance Communications (formerly Reliance Infocomm) was at 17th position.
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Ranking in 2009: 18
Net sales growth during FY09: 61.47%
Net profit growth during FY09: 41.18%
Among the other top rankers in the banking industry was HDFC Bank with 18th position. HDFC Bank not only showed healthy financial results but also gave good returns in terms of appreciation in the market capitalization . It gave a return of over 30% in the last one year. Paresh Sukthankar, executive director, HDFC Bank said, “What really helped us was not what we did during the slowdown period itself, but what we did not do during the preceding boom period. We moderated our growth rates in certain areas while continuing to invest in growing businesses. We almost doubled our distribution network from 761 to 1,412 branches organically and through the Centurion Bank of Punjab (CBoP) merger. As retail loan demand picks up, we are extremely well entrenched as a market leader in almost all the loan products. In the wholesale customer segment, we see growth in transactional banking, working capital and term loans, and treasury products. With a wider distribution network, multiple customer and product franchises, a growing retail deposit base and a strong capital adequacy ratio of 15.7%, we are well positioned to grow at a healthy clip, particularly as the economy picks up further.”
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Ranking in 2009: 19
Net sales growth during FY09: 36.38%
Net profit growth during FY09: -6.31%
The HDFC Gourp holding company Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited (HDFC) was at 19th position.
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Ranking in 2009: 20
Net sales growth during FY09: 20.06%
Net profit growth during FY09: -2.92%
Azim Premji-owned Indian conglomerate in IT sector, Wipro Limited, was at 20th position.
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Ranking in 2009: 21
Net sales growth during FY09: 15.37%
Net profit growth during FY09: 10.56%
The almost recession-proof FMCG sector ensured that there was not much of an impact on Hindustan Unilever (HUL). Not just in terms of financial performance, it also fared well in the equity market. Its net sales and net profit grew by 15% and 11% respectively in FY09. Consequently, the company bagged 21st position. Said Harish Manwani, chairman of HUL in the AGM, “India is a diverse country but all of them hope for a better life hence we focus on a strategy called ‘straddling the pyramid.’ Under this we focus on every category.” He further explained it by giving an example; “Wheel caters to the bottom of the pyramid, Rin serves mid-segment and Surf Excel serves the upper strata. Also, in other categories — Hair, Oral Care and Tea — we use the lucrative prices and small unit packs to serve the whole pyramid. In order to lower the cost, we started a new model called ‘Go-To-Market’.”
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Ranking in 2009: 22
Net sales growth during FY09: 32.60%
Net profit growth during FY09: 7.77%
India's largest natural gas transportation company GAIL (India) Limited, previously known as Gas Authority of India Ltd, was at 22nd position.
Sterlite Industries (India):
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Ranking in 2009: 23
Net sales growth during FY09: -8.55%
Net profit growth during FY09: 29.93%
Sterlite Industries India Limited, a subsidiary of diversified and integrated metals and mining group Vedanta Resources plc, was at 23rd position.
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Ranking in 2009: 24
Net sales growth during FY09: 13.22%
Net profit growth during FY09: -29.59%
In the auto sector, which was one of the major losers in the slowdown battle, Maruti Suzuki India, the largest domestic car manufacturer, ranked 24th despite the fact that its net profit declined by almost 30%. On the other hand, it showered investors with good returns in the equity market. In the last one year, it gave a return of around 40%. A company spokesperson of Maruti Suzuki India said that reaching new markets, improved products, service development and increasing exports helped them to get the higher ranking. “To sustain the sales level, we penetrated the unexplored local rural market. We also launched a brand new engine (K series engines) and two global car models: A-star and Ritz. Apart from this we enhanced our after sales service network across the nation to support the increasing volumes of sales. On the production front, we expanded our capacities to reach a million units annually. These factors have helped us and we are proud to register an all-time high sales figure of 7,92,167 units during 2008-09.”
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Ranking in 2009: 25
Net sales growth during FY09: 41.44%
Net profit growth during FY09: 24.21%
India's third largest steel manufacuturing company Jindal Steel & Power Limited was at 25th position.
