The Tyranny of Other Income

With the recent volatility of the rupee, more and more companies are seeing the "other income" component of their quarterly accounts bouncing around like tennis balls.
This is particularly true for IT companies, whose top line has very little protection from this volatility.
Equity analysts have sharpened their focus on this element of the accounts and, even though they should know better, sometimes factor this "uncertainty" into their assessment of the company's future worth.
The reality, however, is that the volatility of other income (or, more specifically, forex gain/loss) has very little to do with the actual worth of the company.
From a bottom line perspective, a business revenue of, say, Rs 1,563 crore plus other income of Rs 17 crore is exactly the same as business revenue of Rs 1,600 crore plus other income of minus Rs 20 crore!
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