Determinants of Profitability of Automobile Industry in India

The present study is an attempt to ascertain the determinants of profitability of automobile industry in India by taking a sample of all the automobile firms covering various segments of automobile industry in India viz. commercial vehicles, three wheelers, two wheelers, and passenger vehicles which are listed on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), for a period of eleven years from 2003-04 to 2013-14. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, firm-specific factors viz. financial leverage, size of firm, tangibility of assets, growth of firm, liquidity, inventory turnover ratio, debt equity ratio, debtors turnover ratio, total assets turnover ratio, average payment period, and cash liquidity of firm are regressed against return on assets ratio. Firstly correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis are applied to identify the factors affecting profitability of sample firms. Further, to find out the prominent factors that account for the variation in profitability of sample firms, stepwise regression analysis has been carried out. It was found that profitability of automobile industry in India is significantly influenced by the liquidity position of firm, growth of firm, inventory turnover ratio, debt equity ratio, and average payment period.