RIL, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank may drive Nifty, Sensex Q1 earnings

Stock benchmarks Nifty and Sensex are expected to log 4-6 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth in earnings for the June quarter, with index constituents such as Reliance Industries Ltd, Bharti Airtel Ltd, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank expected to drive the growth, analysts said in their preview notes.

Kotak Institutional Equities expects the BSE Sensex to see 6.1 per cent YoY growth in net profit. For the NSE Nifty, it sees a growth of 4.1 per cent YoY. It estimated the earnings per share of the BSE-30 Index at Rs 3,700 for FY26 and Rs 4,308 for FY27. For Nifty, EPS is projected at Rs 1,125 for FY26 and Rs1,300 for FY27.

Ten Nifty companies are likely to report a profit after tax (PAT) growth of above 20 per cent YoY. Whereas 15 Nifty companies are expected to report a YoY decline in profits, MOFSL estimated.

MOFSL said Nifty earnings may grow 5 per cent YoY in 1QFY26. Ex-commodities, the Nifty earnings are anticipated to rise 4 per cent YoY.

"Reliance Inds. Bharti Airtel, JSW Steel, HDFC Bank, and ICICI Bank are likely to drive Nifty earnings, while Coal India, Tata Motors, IndusInd Bank, ONGC, and Maruti Suzuki are projected to drag the same," it said.

In terms of percentage growth, Nifty constituent JSW Steel is expected to lead the profit growth, followed by Bharti Airtel (108 per cent), Trent (36.3 per cent), Reliance Industries (32.1 per cent), Ultratech Cement (32 per cent), Bajaj Finserv (31 per cent), Apollo Hospitals (25.7 per cent), Larsen & Toubro (20.6 per cent) and Tata Steel (20.1 per cent).

Grasim Industries is expected to report losses in Q1. Auto makers such as Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki India, FMCG companies Asian Paints and HUL, and PSUs such as Coal India ad ONGC are expected to report fall in June quarter profits, as per MOFSL estimates.

"We reduce our FY26E/FY27E Nifty EPS by 1.2 per fcent/ 0.4 per cent and expect it to grow 11 per cent/17 per cent YoY to Rs 1,122/Rs 1,308. The BFSI, Auto, Consumer, Healthcare, Metals, and Retail sectors have led to the majority of the earnings cut," the domestic brokerage said.

It likes ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, L&T, Kotak MahindraBank, M&M, Titan, BEL, Ultratech, Indian Hotels, and Tech Mahindra among largecaps. It is positive on Dixon Tech, UTI AMC, Suzlon Energy, SRF, Jindal Stainless, Coforge, Page Industries, Kaynes Tech, Niva Bupa, and Supreme Industries, among midcap and smallcap stocks.