Private sector reports 8% YoY sales growth in Q2: RBI data

Listed private non-financial companies reported 8% year-on-year (YoY) sales income growth during Q2 FY26 from 5.5% growth seen in the previous quarter and 5.4% growth in Q2 FY25, as per data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday. The growth was led by improvement in sales growth across all the major sectors.

The RBI on Monday released the data on performance of the private corporate business sector during the second quarter of 2025-26, drawn from abridged quarterly financial results of 3,118 listed non-government non-financial companies. 

Sales of 1,775 listed private manufacturing companies rose by 8.5% YoY during Q2 FY26 as compared to 5.3% in the previous quarter, mainly driven by higher sales growth in automobiles, food products, electrical machinery and chemicals industries.

Information Technology (IT) companies recorded a rise of 7.8% YoY in their sales during Q2 FY26 from 6% in the previous quarter.

Sales of non-IT services companies recorded a double-digit growth of 10.6% in Q2 FY26 as compared to 7.5% growth in the previous quarter, primarily due to higher sales growth recorded by the wholesale and retail trade companies.

As per RBI data manufacturing companies’ expenses on raw material rose by 9% YoY during Q2FY 26 in consonance with their sales growth; raw material to sales ratio increased to 55.9% during Q2 from 54.1% in the previous quarter.

Staff cost of manufacturing, IT and non-IT services companies rose by 9.2%, 6% and 8.9%, respectively during Q2 FY26, higher than the growth recorded during the previous quarter. Staff cost to sales ratio for manufacturing and non-IT services companies, broadly remained stable at 5.8% and 10.7% respectively, during Q2 FY26, while for IT companies, the ratio moderated to 47.3% in Q2 from 48.8%in the previous quarter.

The operating profit YoY growth of manufacturing and IT companies improved to 10.6% and 7.7% respectively, while it moderated to 6.5% for non-IT services companies during Q2 from the previous quarter. Operating profit margin improved sequentially for IT companies during Q2 FY26, while it moderated for manufacturing and non-IT services sector.  Manufacturing companies reported sequential decline in profit and their interest coverage ratio (ICR) moderated to 8.6 in Q2 FY26.