India's top corporations paid about 18.0% more in advance tax for the second quarter, belying signs that high interest rates and costlier inputs were hurting corporate profitability and income. However, experts warned that the numbers may be concealing trends about an emerging slowdown in the broader economy.
India's largest private sector company by market capitalisation, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), paid 67.0% more in advance tax this quarter at Rs 2,000 crore compared to last year. The company's higher advance tax may have been driven by higher incomes from payments received from the $7.2-billion BP deal, analysts said.
HDFC Bank payed 33.3% higher advance tax for the quarter, while India's largest lender State Bank of India's (SBI's ) advance tax payout fell by 10.5%.
Companies pay advance tax every quarter based on their projected income of the year.
India's factory output growth in July grew by 3.3%, the slowest in 21 months, mirroring signs of an imminent industrial slowdown. The manufacturing sector, which accounts for 80% of the Index of Industrial Production, grew by only 2.3%.
{{/usCountry}}India's factory output growth in July grew by 3.3%, the slowest in 21 months, mirroring signs of an imminent industrial slowdown. The manufacturing sector, which accounts for 80% of the Index of Industrial Production, grew by only 2.3%.
{{/usCountry}}The RBI has raised interest rates by 11 times in the past 16 months to cool prices and experts said that the central bank may not be done yet with the rate hikes.