Q2 FY27 Earnings, October 25, 2026: Early-Bird Profits Jump 25.5% on a Commodity Boost

The first big read of Q2 FY27 earnings is in, and the story isn’t the one most of us expected. Banks and IT services still make up the bulk of corporate profit, but the speed this quarter came from somewhere else: power plants, zinc and steel makers, and oil refiners riding higher commodity and energy prices. That’s the picture from a Business Standard analysis of 337 early-bird companies, published late on October 25, 2026.

Q2 FY27 earnings: the headline numbers

The combined adjusted net profit of these 337 companies rose 25.5% year-on-year in the July-September quarter, to around ₹1.94 trillion. That’s the fastest growth in 12 quarters. For context, the same set grew profits 15% year-on-year in Q2 FY26 and just 5.6% in Q1 FY27, so this is a sharp pick-up.

Sales did even better on the “how long since” scale. Combined net sales, which for lenders means gross interest income, rose 22.3% year-on-year to a record ₹14.85 trillion, up from ₹12.15 trillion a year ago. That’s the quickest growth in 16 quarters. Business Standard puts part of this down to inflation, with higher prices lifting realisations across sectors.

Three companies, a big slice of the growth

Here’s the number that stood out to us. Adani Power, Hindustan Zinc and JSW Steel together contributed nearly 30% of the incremental earnings growth, even though they made up only about 6% of the group’s combined net sales. Their combined adjusted net profit rose 157.6%. We looked at one of these in our note on Adani Power’s Q2 results.

Two standalone refiners, Chennai Petroleum and Mangalore Refinery & Petroleum, also posted big jumps on better refining margins. The state-run marketers didn’t share the joy. BPCL and HPCL reported lower earnings year-on-year, as government control of retail prices of transport and cooking fuel left them with marketing losses.

Banks and IT: big, but slower

BFSI and IT services companies still accounted for 72.3% of the group’s combined adjusted net profit. BFSI profits rose 21.7% to ₹1.04 trillion, while IT services profits grew 9.6% to ₹35,700 crore. ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance and Shriram Finance were among the larger contributors, together accounting for nearly 23% of the year-on-year incremental earnings growth.

Strip out BFSI, oil and gas, and mining and metals, and the rest of India Inc still looks decent. That group’s combined adjusted net profit rose 23.3% to ₹62,918.2 crore from ₹51,011.8 crore, while its net sales grew 20.9%, the fastest in at least 17 quarters.

On the weak side, apart from the public-sector oil companies, IDBI Bank, Godrej Properties and JK Tyre were the biggest laggards, each reporting lower earnings year-on-year.

What it means for the rest of results season

A quarter driven by commodity prices is a different kind of strong. When the gains come from realisations rather than volumes, they can reverse just as quickly if metal or energy prices cool. And the same price surge works as a cost for users of steel, rubber and fuel, so we’d watch margins closely in autos, cement and consumer names as they report. The early birds are also a sample, not the full market. Plenty of large companies are still to declare, and the totals will shift. You can track who reports next in our Q2 results calendar for this week, and if you want to read the margin line properly, our guide to EBIT margin in results walks through it.

Company filings themselves are on the NSE financial results page.

Source: Business Standard, “Q2 results review: Early birds reflect a commodity boost amid price surge”, October 25, 2026.

Disclaimer: This article is for information and education only and is not investment advice. Please do your own research or consult a SEBI-registered adviser before investing.