Mumbai : Corporate India is expected to see a 9.4 percent rise in net profits in fourth quarter of the current financial year, after suffering a steep fall for two consecutive quarters, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) said in its monthly review.

Indian corporates incurred huge forex losses in the September and the December 2011 quarters because of steep depreciation of the Indian rupee. However, we expect rupee to appreciate in the March 2012 quarter, CMIE said.

Absence of forex losses and a moderation in input price inflation are expected to push up corporate profits in the March 2012 quarter.

The main driver of profit growth is expected to be the banking industry, which is likely to see a robust over 42 percent rise in net profits due to lower provisions and low base, it said.

However, despite improvement in the fourth quarter, net profits of corporate India for the financial year 2012 as a whole will remain 9.5 percent lower than the year ago level.