mumbai, Feb. 26 -- The ability of India's manufacturing companies to repay debt worsened in the three months through December due to weak earnings, even as the quantum of interest outgo dropped.
Data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed that the interest coverage ratio (ICR) of manufacturing companies declined to 7.6 in the December quarter, down 30 basis points (bps) from the previous quarter. Interest coverage ratio is the ratio of earnings before interest and tax to interest expenses, a measure of the debt servicing capacity of a company.
The fall in Ebitda, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation, for listed manufacturing companies, excluding those owned by the government, was steeper than the ...