D&B India sees marginal recovery in business sentiment

The economic crisis and rising unemployment will cast an even longer shadow of uncertainty on companies in the second quarter of 2009, reveals a latest study by Dun & Bradstreet (D&B), leading global financial data services company.

The survey includes several sectors such as basic goods, capital goods, intermediate goods, consumer durables, consumer non-durables and service sectors.

The D&B Composite Business Optimism Index (BOI) for Q2 2009 declined by around 2 per cent to a new low of 93.8, after touching 95.7 in Q1 2009.

However, the pace of contraction is lower as compared to the previous quarter; in Q1 2009 the Composite Optimism Index fell by 31 per cent (Q-o-Q).

On a year on year basis, the BOI for Q2 2009 recorded a decrease of 39 per cent as against a decline of 43 per cent in Q1 2009.

The BOI of D&B is widely recognised as an indicator, which measures the pulse of the business community and serves as a reliable benchmark for investors. The index is arrived at on the basis of a quarterly survey of business expectations.