labels: Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry, Chambers
FICCI survey records corporate gloom over economy news
28 April 2008

Nearly half the corporate heads polled by apex industry association, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) say the overall economic conditions have deteriorated in the last six months. Among the reasons cited are high interest rates, appreciating rupee and rising cost of raw materials.

This is in contrast to FICCI's previous survey that showed less than a fifth of the respondents expressing a dismal picture of the economy.

Industry expectations for the next half year are also gloomy with 38 per cent expect the current economic situation saying similar conditions would continue to prevail for the next six months, while nearly one-third expected conditions to worsen.

While the overall business confidence index has recorded a decline from 61.2 in the previous survey to 55.3 currently, the "expectations index" has also declined from from 62.2 to 55.7.

FICCI says the corporate sector is deeply concerned over the evolving economic situation with growth slowing on one hand and inflation rising on the other hand. "Companies from across the sectors have reported rising prices of industrial raw material as a serious concern with regard to their business performance."

392 companies with turnover between Rs one crore and Rs50,000 crore from sectors across cement, pharmaceuticals, textiles, FMCG, apparel, leather, heavy equipment and machinery, financial services, paper, metal and metal products, chemicals, IT, automobile auto ancillary and steel aprticpate in FICCI's survey for the third quarter of fiscal 2007-08, conducted in March this year.


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FICCI survey records corporate gloom over economy