Operating margin

Operating profit divided by revenue. The purest income-statement measure of trading performance, because it sits above financing and tax.

At ₹960 crore of operating profit on ₹4,800 crore of revenue, an exporter runs 20%.

Its direction matters more than its level. A margin that falls while gross margin holds points at overheads or advertising; a margin that falls with gross margin points at pricing or input costs. Those are different problems with different half-lives, and the two ratios read together localise it in a minute.

Sector norms vary enormously, so cross-sector comparison is meaningless. Indian information technology services cluster in the low twenties, commodity processors in the mid single digits, and neither is better than the other.

Read the direction, then find the cause.