Earnings draggers of the Sensex

It is a common belief that Sensex companies, being giants in their respective fields, report results that are amongst the best of India Inc's. That is a misconception. Around 40 per cent of Sensex companies saw their earnings fall in the last one year. Sensex earnings have declined for the fourth consecutive quarter. This scenario has not played out since June 2011 (see the chart below). The main culprit? Around 65 per cent of the cut in Sensex FY16 estimated earnings, says Axis Capital, is due to Tata Motors and commodity-oriented companies. In terms of sectors, auto has led the decline in earnings estimates (Tata Motors is in the forefront again), followed by metals, oil, banking, engineering and FMCG. The three sav