By IndiaTomorrow.net,
New Delhi, 01 Feb 2015: The last six months – that is the first six months of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the centre – have not seen much change on the ground at the industry level, an ASSOCHAM Business Confidence Index has revealed.
“Not much has changed on the ground at the industry level in the last six months, but the situation is going to improve within first half of 2015 reflecting optimism about sales volume and hiring of workforce by corporates as well,” said Assocham (Associated Chambers of Commerce of India) in a press statement on Sunday.
As many as 54.2 per cent of the respondents in the Confidence measuring survey said not much has really changed at the operating level in the last six months, but more number of industry leaders expressed optimism about the shape of things to improve going forward.
BJP got a thumping victory in the Lok Sabha elections in May 2014 on the development plank and Modi took oath of the prime minister of the country on 26th May.
According to the Assocham survey, December 2014 results indicate that the general consensus (62.5 percent) at the industry level seems to be that their industry’s performance in the coming six months would improve.
Though 45.8 percent respondents to the ASSOCHAM Business Confidence Index believe that January-March 2015 quarter won’t see any change in their domestic investment plans, a considerable 41.7 per cent expected the job hiring prospects to be improving in the next quarter and in subsequent months. Similar outlook is seen as regards international investment plans.
“Typically investment follows improvement in sales and profitability. The latter things –sales and profitability are falling in place and there would be a visible change in the next few months following which investment should follow since there is always a lag,” ASSOCHAM Secretary General Mr D S Rawat said.
As many 58.3 percent of the respondents expect that during January to March 2015 their sales volume will increase and 45.8 per cent of them expressed similar outlook for profits.
With regards to the expected order books position in the Jan-Mar 2015 quarter majority (58.3 percent) of the firms seem to be optimist and expect an increase in the orders. Thus, there are some indications of a possibility of a revival being seen in the demand within the economy.
