OREANDA-NEWS. July 12, 2011. The July issue of the Bulletin issue carries two special articles: (i) Finances of Public Limited Companies: 2009-10 (ii) Investment Portfolio of Scheduled Commercial Banks: March 2010. Highlights of the special articles are:

Highlights:

1. Finances of Public Limited Companies: 2009-10

The article presents the financial performance of select 3,352 non-government non-financial public limited companies during the financial year 2009-10, based on their audited annual accounts.

Signs of recovery visible in spite of lower growth parameters

Main Findings

The aggregate results of the select companies in 2009-10 showed signs of recovery from the global financial crisis experienced during 2008-09.

The growth rates in major parameters like sales, value of production, manufacturing expenses, net worth, etc. were lower in 2009-10. However, profits before depreciation, interest and tax (PBDIT), gross profits and profits after tax recovered in 2009-10 after recording decline in 2008-09.

The profitability and profit allocation ratios, e.g., profit margin, return on equity and dividends to net worth were higher due to improved profits in 2009-10.

The pace of expansion of business was slower in 2009-10. This led to significant cut-down in the borrowings requirements.

For the first time in recent past, stock of capital work-in-progress declined at end 2009-10 as compared with that of the previous year. The companies made sizeable investment in plant and machinery.

2. Investment Portfolio of Scheduled Commercial Banks: March 2010

This article presents the investment portfolio of scheduled commercial banks (excluding Regional Rural Banks) as at end-March 2010, based on annual Basic Statistical Return (BSR)-5.

Nationalised Banks accounted for the largest share of investments

Main Findings

During 2009-10, the total investments of the scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) increased by 20.2 per cent as compared with 22.8 per cent in 2008-09.

Nationalised Banks accounted for the largest share of investments of the SCBs (48.2 per cent). The share of State Bank group declined from 24.7 per cent to 22.0 per cent.

The maturity profile of the government securities held by the SCBs  showed that holdings in medium- term maturity buckets, i.e., 'more than 1 year but less than 6 years' and 'more than 6 years but less than 11 years' together contribute to 72.2 per cent of the total. Holdings of government securities with maturity period more than 11 years had a share of 12.6 per cent.

During 2009-10, the share of central government securities with the coupon rate of ‘6 per cent to 10 per cent’ held by the SCBs increased from 75.8 per cent to 82.8 per cent.

Share of the  investments of SCBs under ‘held to maturity’ (HTM) as well as ‘held for trading’ (HFT) category declined between March 31,2009  and March 31, 2010, while the share of ‘available for sale’ (AFS) category increased sharply.