Cummins halves guidance second time this fiscal

Cummins India, manufacturer of engines for power generation, industrial and automotive segments, has halved its growth guidance for the second time this fiscal to 5-10% as a slowdown in economy reduced orders and affected business.

Anant J Talaulicar, chairman and managing director, Cummins India, said, “We had estimated 20% growth at the beginning of the year. The guidance was later brought down to 10-15%. I’d say now that we are probably looking at a 5-10% growth across the board (domestic and exports) on a year-on-year basis. As far as profitability (PBIT margin) is concerned, we see a further deterioration of 1% sequentially.”

“The cost of money has gone up significantly and is causing some projects to get deferred. Secondly, some of the projects in the infrastructure sector are slowing down and the demand picture is not as bright as it was earlier. However, if the demand picture improves and inflation stabilises at today’s levels, the profitability will start improving,” he said.

Cummins said the most affected was its power generation business, followed by mining and construction, and added that the share of power generation in its total sales had come down to 30% from 40% earlier. The industrials business stayed flat at 12%, while auto’s share doubled to close to 10% levels. The distribution business, the company said, is about 18-20%.

The raw material costs have also increased affecting profits. The company said it has passed on increased costs from time to time in the recent past, but doesn’t see any scope for cut in prices now.
Cummins plans to spend  Rs200-250 crore in capex this fiscal and  Rs300-350 crore in the next.