In August 2022, Indian car makers recorded yet another month of bumper sales with around 335,000-340,000 units being sold. With 29-31 per cent increase, August saw the fastest growth in wholesale volume this year. Auto industry has continued its growth momentum in FY23 after showing strong results in FY22 (despite the second Covid wave in April-May 2021). Though the overall units sold in FY22 was down by 6 per cent (mainly because of poor show by the two-wheelers segment), passenger vehicle (PV) and commercial vehicle (CV) segments grew by 13.20 per cent (3,069,499 units in FY22) and 26 per cent (716,566 units in FY22), respectively. As PV and CV are the major consumers of auto parts and accessories, the auto component industry in India registered an uptick in performance in FY22. As per Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA) data, Indian automotive component industry registered a turnover of Rs 4.20 trillion ($ 56.5 billion) in FY 2021-22, registering a growth of 23 per cent over the previous year.

This observation is in line with IPF's Top 100 Engineering Companies analysis (refer to the "Cover Story" of IPF September 2022 edition), which shows that the cumulative sales and profit of all listed auto ancillary companies witnessed a jump of 34 per cent and 38 per cent respectively in FY22 compared with FY23. In this maiden edition of "India's Top 100 Engineering Companies", we are presenting the top performers in the engineering industry, which is of strategic importance to the country's economy being closely associated with the manufacturing and infrastructure sectors.

Total 220 qualified engineering companies from various segments like electrical equipment, auto components, castings & forging, machine tool, heavy engineering, machineries, welding, hydraulics, etc were evaluated for ranking. These companies were bifurcated on the basis of their market capitalisation as on August 12, 2022. All the companies having market capitalisation of more than Rs 50 billion were not considered as such heavy engineering companies have a large base and hence cannot be compared to other companies.

Engineering is the largest of the industrial sector in India accounting for 27% of the total factories in the sector. Driven by increased investment in infrastructure and industrial production, India’s engineering sector has witnessed a remarkable growth over the last few years. In FY22, India exported engineering goods worth $ 111.63 billion, a 45.51 per cent increase compared to FY21. As per IPF's Top 100 Engineering Companies analysis, the cumulative sales (at Rs 1.87 trillion) and profit (at Rs 233.17 billion) in FY22 of the qualified 220 companies witnessed growth of 28 per cent and 40 per cent, respectively. The market cap of these companies was up by 40 per cent in FY22 compared to FY21.

The performance of the Top 100 Engineering Companies in FY22 is remarkable under challenging circumstances like second Covid wave, continued semiconductor shortage, high raw material prices, supply chain disruptions, etc. We hope the growth momentum sustains in FY23.