Chennai, Aug 25 (IANS): The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday said the first quarter of FY23 saw listed private non-financial companies log 41 per cent sales growth.

The RBI came out with its report, drawing the data from the abridged quarterly financial results of 2,749 listed private non-financial companies.

"Sales growth (yoy) of listed private non-financial companies surged to 41.0 per cent in Q1:2022-23 from 22.3 per cent in the previous quarter," it said.

According to the RBI, manufacturing logged sales growth of 41.6 per cent driven by broad based demand expansion across industries aided by both volume and price effects.

Annual sales growth of information technology (IT) companies, which remained steady in positive terrain even during the Covid-19 pandemic, stood at 21.3 per cent during the latest quarter, it said.

Sales of non-IT services companies swelled by 62.1 per cent (yoy) in Q1:2022-23, as service activities continued their ascend on strong revival path after the second wave of the pandemic a year ago - hotels and restaurant, transport, trade and real estate sectors bounced back sharply, the report notes.

On expenditure, the RBI said the raw material expenses increased by 52 per cent yoy in tandem with robust demand expansion, and the ratio of raw material expenditure to sales moved up on both sequential as well as annual basis.

Annual growth in staff cost for manufacturing, IT and non-IT services companies stood at 10.3 per cent, 23.5 per cent, and 20 per cent, respectively, whereas the ratio of their staff cost to sales stood at 5 per cent, 50.1 per cent, and 8 per cent, respectively.

According to the RBI, the operating profit margin moderated for manufacturing and IT companies both on sequential and annual basis.

Pricing power, as reflected in net profit margin, moderated for manufacturing and IT companies, whereas it remained in negative terrain for non-IT services companies, mainly due to the losses recorded by telecom and transport companies.