My colleague Nitin Shrivastava is the lead writer of this story which appeared in DNA Money edition on Monday, November 14, 2011.
Coal India, with cash and equivalents of Rs55,000 crore on balance sheet, is symptomatic of the story of corporates today: they are simply unable to deploy funds meaningfully, be it through investments, mergers & acquisitions or treasury operations.
So much so, cash held by companies surged by a third in the last one year to an all-time high of Rs356,452 crore as of September 30, according to an analysis by DNA.
That’s a 9.8% increase in six months and a staggering 33.71% year on year. In all, 283 companies (excluding banks and financials), which represent two-thirds of the market capitalisation of the Bombay Stock Exchange, were looked at.
“Companies have deferred investments over the last few quarters which is obviously reflecting in higher cash balances. The macro environment has been challenging with the sharp spike in interest rates and policy paralysis affecting business sentiment. Also, in these uncertain times, you need to keep a warchest ready,” said Anand Shah, chief investment officer at BNP Paribas Asset Management.
Reliance Industries, Coal India, ONGC, NMDC, Infosys and NTPC are among the biggest hoarders.
Coal India has the highest cash balance among all at Rs54,980 crore, according to the company’s results released on Saturday. The top 10 cash-rich companies contribute Rs221,168 crore to the hoard.
“The increase in cash balances reflects improvement in operating performance which has led to higher cash flows. Indian companies had undertaken huge capex some 2-3 years back, which is showing in cash flows now for some of the companies,” said the head of equities at domestic brokerage house, who did not wish to be named.
But, even as cash levels have risen, the total debt of companies continues to surge.Total loans of these 283 corporates stood at Rs11,23,244 crore as of September 30, up 16.6% over the last six months and 28.44% in the last 12. Experts believe this is not necessarily because of fresh investments.
“The rise would have been due to companies taking loans to meet higher working capital requirements and on account of higher inflation,” said Nischal Maheshwari, head of research at Edelweiss Securities.
Few capital-intensive sector companies such as Adani Power, Reliance Power, SAIL, NTPC and oil marketers are the ones which have seen substantial rise in debt.
“My sense is that a part of this money is actually debt cash. Barring IT, the cash position with a lot of other companies is on account of borrowed funds. And taking risk by deploying debt-based cash is not really what companies would want to do,” said Vivek Gupta, partner, M&A practice, BMR Advisors.
There’s a case that companies are not making full use of cash as returns on fixed deposits yield at best 5-6% post tax, compared with their net profit growth, which is multiple that at around 12-15%.
There are 68 companies sitting on net cash surplus after accounting for debt — the major ones being Coal India, Infosys, ONGC, Cairn India and TCS.
“Overall, corporates are not confident on the growth front. Demand is not improving in many sectors and margins are under pressure. The saving grace till now has been that revenue growth has been healthy, which may slowdown in the coming quarters on account of lag effect of interest rate hikes on demand and the higher base of last year. Also, higher capital investment tends to have an impact on immediate return on equity and the returns get better only after a few years, once capacity utilisation goes up,”said Shah.The capex cycle has come to a standstill and is at a trough, according to some.
“As for mergers & acquisitions (M&A), opportunities are being looked at more fundamentally. It’s not being done with the same euphoria as during the 2008 downturn. People are taking a more calibrated and deliberate call now,” said Gupta.
The Street believes the cash conservation mode will continue till the headwinds show signs of easing.
Coal India, with cash and equivalents of Rs55,000 crore on balance sheet, is symptomatic of the story of corporates today: they are simply unable to deploy funds meaningfully, be it through investments, mergers & acquisitions or treasury operations.
So much so, cash held by companies surged by a third in the last one year to an all-time high of Rs356,452 crore as of September 30, according to an analysis by DNA.
That’s a 9.8% increase in six months and a staggering 33.71% year on year. In all, 283 companies (excluding banks and financials), which represent two-thirds of the market capitalisation of the Bombay Stock Exchange, were looked at.
“Companies have deferred investments over the last few quarters which is obviously reflecting in higher cash balances. The macro environment has been challenging with the sharp spike in interest rates and policy paralysis affecting business sentiment. Also, in these uncertain times, you need to keep a warchest ready,” said Anand Shah, chief investment officer at BNP Paribas Asset Management.
Reliance Industries, Coal India, ONGC, NMDC, Infosys and NTPC are among the biggest hoarders.
Coal India has the highest cash balance among all at Rs54,980 crore, according to the company’s results released on Saturday. The top 10 cash-rich companies contribute Rs221,168 crore to the hoard.
“The increase in cash balances reflects improvement in operating performance which has led to higher cash flows. Indian companies had undertaken huge capex some 2-3 years back, which is showing in cash flows now for some of the companies,” said the head of equities at domestic brokerage house, who did not wish to be named.
But, even as cash levels have risen, the total debt of companies continues to surge.Total loans of these 283 corporates stood at Rs11,23,244 crore as of September 30, up 16.6% over the last six months and 28.44% in the last 12. Experts believe this is not necessarily because of fresh investments.
“The rise would have been due to companies taking loans to meet higher working capital requirements and on account of higher inflation,” said Nischal Maheshwari, head of research at Edelweiss Securities.
Few capital-intensive sector companies such as Adani Power, Reliance Power, SAIL, NTPC and oil marketers are the ones which have seen substantial rise in debt.
“My sense is that a part of this money is actually debt cash. Barring IT, the cash position with a lot of other companies is on account of borrowed funds. And taking risk by deploying debt-based cash is not really what companies would want to do,” said Vivek Gupta, partner, M&A practice, BMR Advisors.
There’s a case that companies are not making full use of cash as returns on fixed deposits yield at best 5-6% post tax, compared with their net profit growth, which is multiple that at around 12-15%.
There are 68 companies sitting on net cash surplus after accounting for debt — the major ones being Coal India, Infosys, ONGC, Cairn India and TCS.
“Overall, corporates are not confident on the growth front. Demand is not improving in many sectors and margins are under pressure. The saving grace till now has been that revenue growth has been healthy, which may slowdown in the coming quarters on account of lag effect of interest rate hikes on demand and the higher base of last year. Also, higher capital investment tends to have an impact on immediate return on equity and the returns get better only after a few years, once capacity utilisation goes up,”said Shah.The capex cycle has come to a standstill and is at a trough, according to some.
“As for mergers & acquisitions (M&A), opportunities are being looked at more fundamentally. It’s not being done with the same euphoria as during the 2008 downturn. People are taking a more calibrated and deliberate call now,” said Gupta.
The Street believes the cash conservation mode will continue till the headwinds show signs of easing.
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