This has happened probably due to the significant increase in net profit by the companies like Apar Industries, Asahi India Safety Glass, Avon Organics, Calcom Vision, DCM Shriram Consolidated, Ind-Swift Laboratories and Stovec Industries during the half year period April-September '99. The net profit of Apar Industries rose by 206.3 per cent to Rs 9.74 crore during April-September '99 from the level of Rs 3.18 crore during the same period last year. The sales figure of Apar Industries also rose by 314.9 per cent during the same period. Similarly, the net profit of DCM Shriram Consolidated increased by 273.6 per cent to Rs 15.17 crore (Rs 4.06 crore) during April-September '99.

The sales figure of DCM Shriram Consolidated also rose by 43.9per cent to Rs 384.36 crore during April-September '99.

The better performance of major companies are responsible for the upturn in net profit of 355 companies during the first half year April-September '99. The aggregate sales of these companies rose by 16.4 per cent to Rs 90,672 crore (Rs 77,914 crore). Operating profit rose by 16.3 per cent from Rs 27,598 crore to Rs 32,104 crore. Gross profit also rose by 14.6 per cent to Rs 13,297 crore (Rs 11,606 crore). This was probably due to the significant increases in gross profit of Bharat Earth Movers, Bajaj Tempo, Excel Glasses, Ginni Filaments, Henkel Spic India, IPCL, RM Mohite Textiles, Reliance Chemotex and Visaka Industries.

The profit before tax increased by 12.5 per cent to Rs 7,306 crore (Rs 6,497 crore). In PBT, 32 companies have recorded an increase of 100 per cent and more. Significant among them are Tube Investment, Zenith Computers, Jindal Photo Films, Shasun Chemicals, Shree Ambeshwar Paper and Stresscrete India.However, 80 companies haverecorded a lower PBT. At PAT level, 33 companies have reported an increase of more than 100 per cent, with Modern Home Credit recording an increase of 633.3 per cent. As many as 83 companies recorded a lower net profit. Significant loss made by the companies during the first half are Arvind Mills (-Rs 103.11 crore), Autoriders Finance (-Rs 16.17 crore), Cable Corporation of India (-Rs 14.63 crore), ITI (-Rs 34.99 crore), Jindal Vijayanagar Steel (-Rs 59.48 crore), Kirloskar Electric (-Rs 36.62 crore), Maharashtra Electrosmelt (-Rs 16.79 crore), Nelco (-Rs 12.47 crore), NRC (-Rs 23.81 crore), Raymond Synthetics (-Rs 32.38 crore), Shree Precoated Steels (-Rs 15.29 crore), SIV Industries (-Rs 62.42 crore) and Svadeshi Mills (-Rs 12.38 crore).

The PAT to sales ratio declined from 6.86 per cent in April-September '98 to 6.59 per cent in April-September '99. Similar trend in the ratio can be seen in the case of Associated Hotels (14.86 per cent in April-September '98 to 3.57 per cent in April-September'99),Bharti Telecom (9.91 per cent to 5.36 per cent), Bholanath Intl (10.61 per cent to 4.18 per cent), Compucom Software (65.42 per cent to 37.67 per cent), Industrial Investment Trust (38.13 per cent to 9.15 per cent), Lakshmi Auto Components (28.96 per cent to 14.24 per cent) and Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (10.32 per cent to 4.52 per cent).

An upward trend can be seen in the case of Ansal Properties (5.84 per cent in April-September '98 to 11.63 per cent in April-September '99), Avon Organics (5.07 per cent to 11.54 per cent), Binani Industries (3.07 per cent to 9.61 per cent), Chemplast Sanmar (3.61 per cent to 11.15 per cent), Jain Studios (5 per cent to 27.87 per cent), Menon Bearings (10.45 per cent to 21.24 per cent), Modern Home Credit (8.70 per cent to 42.72 per cent) and Phil Corporation (2.88 per cent to 15.27 per cent). Among the 355 companies, the top five in respect of net profit as a percentage of sales during April-September '99 were Walchand Capital (54.47 per cent), KhandwalaSecurities (51.40 per cent), Sunstar Software Systems (51 per cent), Bank of Madura (43.66 per cent) and Modern Home Credit (42.72 per cent).

Profit after tax formed less than 0.5 per cent of sales during April-September '99 in the case of Bajaj Tempo (0.48 per cent), Bharat Earth Movers (0.12 per cent), Binani Metals (0.42 per cent), Brite Automotive (0.19 per cent), Prime Solvent Extractions (0.03 per cent), SKF Bearings(0.23 per cent) and SPT Securities (0.10 per cent).

Aggregate
This week's additions of 355 companies with previous 146 companies' first half yearly results also showed an increase in sales and profits. The total of 501 companies' sales increased by 20.8 per cent to Rs 1,96,217 crore during April-September '99 from the level of Rs 1,62,366 crore during April-September '98.

Other income of these companies increased marginally by 0.8 per cent to Rs 6,092 crore (Rs 6,046 crore) during April-September '99. The operating profit registered a rise of 21.5 per cent to Rs 48,641 crore(Rs 40,047 crore). Gross profit also increased by 18.4 per cent to Rs 25,712 crore (Rs 21,721 crore). PBT and PAT showed a growth of 15.7 per cent and 15.9 per cent to Rs 16,350 crore (Rs 14132 crore) and Rs 13,326 crore (Rs 11,492 crore) respectively during April-September'99. The profit margin (PAT to sales) decreased from 7.08 per cent in April-September '98 to 6.79 per cent in April-September '99.