The stock sunk 5% on Friday on the back of its poor numbers for Q1FY14. QoQ, its net revenue dropped 16% and yet it ended the quarter with a 7% jump in net profit at Rs.16 crore. This was possible on two counts – firstly, it reduced its operating costs by 22% and secondly, it had a higher exceptional income at Rs.6.94 crore compared to Rs.6.82 crore in Q4FY13. This was the last installment of payment on account of stake sale in Institutional JV which concluded last year. Thus it was tight cost controls alone, which one can say helped the company posted better returns in Q1.

For companies like these, if markets are in a turmoil, performance is bound to get affected. As at 3oth June 2013, BNP Paribas holds 33.58% stake and other promoters comprises of CJ George holding 18.46% stake, Shiny George holding 2.21% and Kerala State Industrial Development Corpn Ltd holding 8.76% stake. Rakesh Jhunjhunwala has 7.88% stake. News is that BNP plans to hike its stake by 4% to 37.58% and is said to have applied to Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) for approval. At a time when there is talk of FIIs exiting India, if this indeed happens, it would be a good reason for cheer for the company and for India too.