Mining Stocks Shine: Listed Private Miners Double Net Margins to 25.1% in Q1 FY27

Mumbai, Aug 29: Based on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)/corporate sector data on listed non-government non-financial companies, ranking industries by their Operating Profit to Sales, EBITDA to Sales, and Net Profit to Sales ratios in Q1:2026-27 reveals five clear profitability leaders, several of which also strengthened meaningfully compared to Q1:2025-26. 

1.  Mining and Quarrying — the standout performer

This sector recorded the sharpest profitability gains of all industry groups. Operating Profit to Sales rose from 16.3% in Q1:25-26 to 28.1% in Q1:26-27, EBITDA to Sales jumped from 18.5% to 34.3%, and Net Profit to Sales more than doubled from 12.0% to 25.1%. These are extraordinary year-on-year improvements — likely reflecting favourable commodity prices, cost discipline, and operating leverage — and place mining well ahead of every other sector on all three-margin metrics in the latest quarter. 

2. IT: Computer Software and Related Services — consistently the highest-margin sector

While IT didn’t show explosive growth, it maintained the highest and most stable profitability of any industry. Operating Profit to Sales edged up from 21.6% to 22.7%, EBITDA to Sales improved from 27.1% to 29.0%, and Net Profit to Sales rose from 18.2% to 20.1%. The sector’s near-zero interest burden (interest to sales of just 0.6%) and very high interest coverage (46.8 times) underline its asset-light, cash-generative business model — a structural advantage that keeps it among the top performers quarter after quarter. 

3. Electricity and Gas Supply — high but slightly softer margins

Utilities remain a high-margin sector in absolute terms, with EBITDA to Sales at 25.4% and Operating Profit to Sales at 21.3% in Q1:26-27. However, these are modest declines from 27.5% and 22.3% respectively a year earlier, and Net Profit to Sales also slipped from 12.6% to 11.3%. The sector’s profitability is supported by regulated, relatively predictable revenue streams, though rising costs or tariff-related pressures appear to have trimmed margins slightly. 

4. Services (other than IT) — solid margins despite a net profit dip

This broad services category (covering trade, hospitality, real estate, telecom, and business/hospital services) posted Operating Profit to Sales of 20.9% and EBITDA to Sales of 24.6% in Q1:26-27 — both strong, though down from 22.7% and 26.2% in Q1:25-26. Net Profit to Sales, however, actually improved slightly (5.2% to 6.3%), even though the Q4:25-26 figure of 23.2% appears to be a one-off spike (likely driven by exceptional items in a sub-segment such as real estate or telecom) rather than a sustained trend. Within this group, real estate, hotels/restaurants, and hospital services stood out with particularly strong margins. 

5. Manufacturing — steady, broad-based profitability

As the largest and most diverse category (over 1,800 companies), manufacturing posted Operating Profit to Sales of 14.7% (flat versus Q1:25-26), EBITDA to Sales of 17.1% (down marginally from 17.9%), and Net Profit to Sales of 10.0% (down from 11.1%). While overall manufacturing margins softened slightly, this masks considerable divergence beneath the surface — sub-sectors like pharmaceuticals (26.3% EBITDA to Sales), precious and non-ferrous metals (29.6%), and basic chemicals (18.3% Operating Profit to Sales) significantly outperformed the manufacturing average, while segments like edible oils and sugar lagged. 

The bigger picture 

Against the “All Companies” benchmark — where Operating Profit to Sales was flat at 16.4%, EBITDA to Sales fell from 20.1% to 19.5%, and Net Profit to Sales declined from 10.8% to 10.5% — mining and IT are the two sectors that genuinely bucked the trend of margin compression, with mining’s improvement being exceptional and IT’s being consistent. Electricity/gas, services, and manufacturing all remain comfortably profitable in absolute terms but experienced mild margin erosion year-on-year, suggesting that cost pressures (input costs, competition, or interest costs) affected a broad swath of the economy even as a handful of resource- and knowledge-intensive sectors expanded their profitability.

Source: https://data.rbi.org.in/DBIE/#/dbie/reports/Statistics/Corporate%20Sector/Listed%20Non-Government%20Non-Financial%20Companies