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Every sector reads differently.

Using the wrong yardstick makes a great business look bad and a terrible one look cheap. Each sector below starts from zero: how the business actually makes money, explained with examples, and only then the handful of numbers that decide its story.

Why PE is useless for a bank

PE compares price to profit. But a bank runs on borrowed money by design, holding ₹10 or more of deposits for every ₹1 of its own. That makes profit look big and hides the real risk, which is not profit but whether the loans get repaid. A bank dies from bad loans, not from a low PE. So you read its loan quality, not its PE.

Why gross margin is useless for cement

Gross margin suits businesses where the product varies. Cement is the same grey powder whoever makes it, and it is too heavy to ship far, so it is really a local commodity. What decides profit is cost and distance, captured in one number: profit per tonne of cement. Gross margin tells you almost nothing here.

A sector page explains how an entire industry works before you look at any single company in it: how the businesses make money, what customers actually buy, what drives demand and margins, and the one or two numbers that decide the story. The right yardstick changes from sector to sector, which is why the same metric can flatter a bank and damn a cement maker. Start with the sector, then read any company in it on its own terms.

Banks
PE matters less. Loan quality matters most.
Credit growthUnderstand it
NBFCs
It is all about AUM growth and collection quality.
AUM growthUnderstand it
Insurance
Probability turned into a business. It earns twice: pricing risk, and investing the float.
APE growthUnderstand it
Hospitals
Occupancy and ARPOB tell the whole story.
Occupancy %Understand it
Diagnostics
Tests are cheap to run. The expensive part is getting them there.
Test volume and mix (illness, doctor-prescribed, preventive)Understand it
Pharma
US generics pipeline and USFDA compliance decide the fate.
Domestic Rx growthUnderstand it
SaaS / Software
Gross margin and NRR matter more than revenue.
ARR growthUnderstand it
Business Services
Contracted revenue is safe until the contract expires. Ask when, not whether.
Contract volume and client willingness to outsourceUnderstand it
FMCG
The factory makes the soap. Distribution makes the business.
Volume growthUnderstand it
Retail
Same-store sales separate real growth from just opening stores.
SSSGUnderstand it
Telecom
ARPU tells you if monetisation is actually working.
Subscriber growthUnderstand it
Media and IP
Own the song, but not the price.
Streaming subscriber growthUnderstand it
Power & Energy
You build the plant once, then sell the same electricity for thirty years. The whole game is who pays you, and how sure that payment is.
Capacity added and PPA coverageUnderstand it
Auto & Auto Parts
Volume is the demand. Profit per vehicle is the quality.
Volume growthUnderstand it
Cement
EBITDA/tonne is the only margin that matters.
Capacity utilisationUnderstand it
Steel & Metals
A commodity cycle stock. The macro direction matters most.
Capacity utilisationUnderstand it
Chemicals
Commodity molecules sell a price. Specialty molecules sell a spec.
End-market demand + China+1Understand it
Packaging
Freight radius, not brand, is the moat.
Customer order cyclesUnderstand it
Airlines
Load factor and CASK determine survival.
Load factorUnderstand it
Real Estate
Pre-sales today equals revenue two to three years from now.
Pre-salesUnderstand it
Hotels
RevPAR is the single most important number.
Occupancy %Understand it
E-commerce
GMV is vanity; contribution margin is sanity.
GMV / order volumeUnderstand it
Infrastructure
Order book is the balance sheet. Execution speed is the P&L.
Order inflowsUnderstand it
Capital Markets
Volume is the business. The market cycle sets revenue, not the company.
ADTO / market volumesUnderstand it