Giants fall too

Common investing wisdom tells us that the companies which comprise the market index, such as BSE Sensex, are stalwarts in their respective industries. They're considered by many to be safe investments that will lead the market in earnings and growth. The problem with this hypothesis is that it is wrong. In the last one year, five index companies have reported a fall in net earnings, aggregating to 33 per cent. To be fair, the remaining index companies did report earnings growth that aggregated 11.5 per cent. This story, however, looks at those companies that saw their net earnings decline. The table below lists out the five companies that make it to this list. We discuss the top three with the biggest fall in earnings. State Bank of India: The country's largest banker has been struggling with higher provisioning after the RBI governor, Raghuram Rajan, initiated as