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Informist, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025

By Shreya Shetty

MUMBAI – Container Corp. of India Ltd. is expected to post weak earnings for the September quarter, with softer growth in volumes compared to its competitors, analysts said. Though the company reported steady volume growth in the reporting quarter, it was partially on a low base, Nuvama Wealth Management Ltd. said.

The company's originating volume is marginally weaker compared to Indian Railway's overall container volume growth, signalling that the company is not growing as fast as the broader market, Kotak Securities Ltd. said. "We note prospects of Adani Ports have gained some market share in this quarter (volumes up 15% on year)," the brokerage said.

The company's slower-than-industry growth highlights a more pronounced weakness, particularly given the softening sector backdrop. Overall logistics volumes in the country have been affected in September due to weak demand and slow movement of goods ahead of the goods and services tax rate cut, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd. said.

The public sector enterprise is expected to post a net profit of INR 3.53 billion for the September quarter, down nearly 13% on year, according to the average of estimates of four brokerages. The highest estimate for net profit was INR 3.76 billion from Kotak Securities, while the lowest was INR 3.24 billion from JM Financial Institutional Securities Pvt. Ltd.

The company's revenue for the reporting quarter likely rose just over 5% on year to INR 24.04 billion. The highest estimate for revenue was INR 24.85 billion by Kotak Securities and the lowest was INR 23.46 billion by Motilal Oswal.

The company's revenue is expected to rise nearly 12% from the trailing quarter, while its net profit is expected to rise 37%.

Container Corp. of India Ltd. handled a total volume of 1.44 million twenty-foot equivalent unit in Jul-Sept, up 10.5% on year, the company had said earlier this month. The total volume handled by the company for Apr-Sept is up by nearly 11% on year at 2.73 million TEU. The company handled an export and import volume of 1.09 million TEU in the September quarter, up nearly 9% on year, while its domestic volume was up around 17% on year at 347,271 TEU.

The state-owned company is expected to post earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation of INR 5.22 billion for the September quarter, according to the average of estimates of four brokerages. The estimates were in a tight range, with a high of INR 5.71 billion by Kotak Securities and a low of INR 4.77 billion by JM Financial.

"Our analysis of rail container volumes out of JNPT port (Jawaharlal Nehru Port) suggests rail coefficient at JNPT has improved marginally on year," JM Financial said. Despite the rail modal share and the company's market share being potentially stable, the brokerage expects a decline in EBITDA due to persisting pricing and profitability pressure on export-import volume.

The growth of export-import trade, progress on the commissioning of the Dedicated Freight Corridor, and divestment of stake by the government are key areas to be monitored, according to Motilal Oswal.

Container Corp. will announce its September quarter results on Nov. 11. At 1330 IST, shares of Container Corp. were down 0.2% at INR 539.9 on the National Stock Exchange. The stock is down nearly 7% from its closing price on Aug. 5, when the company reported its results for the June quarter. Container Corp. had posted a net profit of INR 2.58 billion for the June quarter on revenue of INR 21.50 billion.

Of the six research reports on the company available with Informist, four have a 'buy' rating on the stock with an average price target of INR 930, while one had a 'hold' rating and another has a 'sell' rating on the stock.

Following are the Jul-Sept earnings estimates of Container Corp. of India from four brokerages in descending order of the estimate of net profit in INR million:

End

US$1 = INR 88.23

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

Edited by Avishek Dutta

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