Engineering and construction major Larsen and Toubro (L&T) will announce its fourth quarter (January-March) earnings today. According to CNBC-TV18 poll estimates, analysts expect net profit of the company to fall 5 percent year-on-year to Rs 1,700 crore during the quarter.

Net sales is seen going up 3.5 percent on yearly basis to Rs 20,960 crore in the quarter ended March 2014 while operating profit increased marginally to Rs 2,460 crore from Rs 2,450 crore but margin may fall 30 basis points to 11.7 percent compared to same quarter last year.

Analysts expect overall revenue growth (ex-Hydrocarbon) to be more than 15 percent led by domestic growth and expect infrastructure margins to sustain at 10.5 percent level.

Edward Teather, India economist, UBS maintains that still high inflation and the potential for rising US interest rates would keep the Indian currency weak against the USD, but cautions that rupee can yet be pushed around by capital flows more than fundamentals in the interim. Past highs on a real effective exchange rate basis would imply a USDINR of 58 could be sustained through end CY 2014. A move beyond 58 may take INR into uncharted territory on CPI based REER basis, potentially hurting competitiveness. UBS sees the rupee at 62 to the dollar by the end of this calendar and 65 by the end of the next calendar.

Utility vehicle maker Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) sharemarket will announce its fourth quarter (January-March) earnings today. According to CNBC-TV18 poll estimates, analysts expect the company to report profit after tax of Rs 818 crore (year-on-year degrowth 8 percent) on revenue of Rs 9,805 crore (down 7 percent Y-o-Y) for the quarter. Operating profit is expected to be at Rs 1,270 crore and margin at 13 percent in the quarter ended March 2014. Reported numbers are not comparable either Y-o-Y or Q-o-Q as the merger of MTBL (Mahindra Trucks and Buses) into M&M standalone entity completed in March quarter.