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Business EYE DECEMBER 25, 2020 | The Indian Eye 34

Positive growth in Q3?

telecom, pharma and manufacturing

may pull India out of crisis

Telecom industry’s ‘active’ subscriber base rose by nearly 2.5 million in October 2020

Our Bureau initially hit due to Covid-19 have

New Delhi resumed gradually since March
and are nearing the normalcy
he Indian economy is re- levels, said ICRA.
covering faster than ex- The key sensitivity to ICRA’s
Tpected and may post pos- view remains productivity of
itive growth in the third quarter R&D expenditure, increasing
of current financial year, the Re- competition in the US generics
serve Bank of India (RBI) said space and operational risks re-
on Thursday in its report on state lated to increased level of due
of the economy. “Indian econ- diligence by regulatory agencies.
omy is pulling out of COVID- The telecom industry’s ‘ac-
19’s deep abyss and is reflating Union minister for communications and electronics tive’ subscriber base rose by
at a pace that beats most pre- & Information Technology ravi shankar Prasad in a meeting with the ceOs nearly 2.5 million in October
dictions,” said the report. Eco- of Telecom companies (File photo) 2020 to touch about 961 million,
nomic conditions continued to and user additions benefited
improve through November on of this fiscal in terms of nom- As per the data, sales of non- from vanishing impact of SIM
the back of the uptick in agricul- inal sales after shrinking 41.1 IT firms and IT firms during consolidation triggered from
ture and manufacturing activity. per cent in the previous quarter the second quarter stood at Rs tariff hike, according to a latest
Financial conditions embodied that was hit by countrywide lock- 80,842 crore and Rs 1,01,353 report.
in interest rates are perhaps at downs due to Covid-19, accord- crore, respectively. “Operating ICICI Securities, in its re-
their easiest in decades. ing to RBI data. profits of manufacturing com- port crunching Trai’s telecom
“Although there are head- The recovery was led by iron panies increased on the back of subscription data, said Bharti
winds, steadfast efforts by all and steel, food products, ce- savings in expenditure; operat- Airtel’s active subscribers rose
stakeholders could put India on ment, automobile and pharma- ing profits of services (both IT about 3 million to reach near-
a faster growth trajectory.” ceuticals companies, showed the and non-IT) companies also in- ly 320 million in October 2020,
The report said growth im- data on the performance of the creased in Q2:2020-21,” the RBI “most of which was driven by
pulses that have emerged au- private corporate sector during said in a statement. total subscriber net adds, thus
gur well for revitalization of the the second quarter of 2020-21. With inelastic demand for indicating improving quality of
economy. Policy stimulus by the Manufacturing companies drugs and resumption of produc- subscriber addition”.
government and the RBI are in- reported sales of Rs 5,99,479 tion to the near pre-Covid levels Bharti Airtel saw the highest
tended to nurture these growth crore in the second quarter, by Q3 FY21, revenue growth for subscriber addition in its tradi-
sprouts to greater strength. Ef- compared to Rs 3,97,233 crore Indian pharmaceutical market is tionally weak circles of Maha-
forts are underway to ensure in April-June of FY 2020-21. expected to be 7 to 9 per cent in rashtra (0.7 million) and Gu-
a calibrated unlocking of the The data has been drawn from FY21 despite muted growth in jarat (0.5 million). The active
economy with cognizance and abridged quarterly financial re- Q1 FY21, according to invest- subscribers are calculated based
caution about the virus. sults of 2,637 listed non-govern- ment information agency ICRA. on the reported visitor location
“While we remain vigilant, ment non-financial (NGNF) The revenue growth in FY22 register (VLR), a key metric
we must now turn to alleviating companies, the RBI said. is expected to be slightly bet- reflecting the number of active
the scars left by pandemic and Nominal sales of non-IT ser- ter at 8 to 11 per cent, though users on a mobile network.
revive the economy. The hori- vices sector also registered low- lower incidences of acute dis- Airtel was followed by Re-
zon has lighted up with the spate er contraction of 14.5 per cent eases, lesser OPDs and elective liance Jio, which added overall
of positive news on the vaccines, (Y-o-Y) led by expansion in surgeries may continue to have 2.22 million new mobile cus-
and a steady rise in recoveries.” sales of telecommunication and some bearing on growth and will tomers, taking its total subscrib-
Demand conditions in the real estate companies. depend upon the course of the er base to 406.3 million during
manufacturing sector returned Sales growth of IT sector pandemic. The active pharma- the said month. Vodafone Idea
to the recovery mode with a soft- companies remained steady at ceutical ingredient (API) and Ltd and state-owned BSNL and
er contraction of 4.3 per cent 3.6 per cent (Y-o-Y) in Q2 FY key starting material (KSM) MTNL reported a loss of sub-
(Y-o-Y) in the second quarter 2020-21. supplies from China which were scriber base, on an overall basis.

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