CII poll of CEOs: expect 9-10 pc growth in current fiscal
STORIES, ANALYSES, EXPERT VIEWS
A CEOs poll conducted among 100 members of the CII National Council indicates the economy is set for a strong rebound in the current fiscal posting a growth rate of 9-10 per cent. There is however, worry about the impact of the new COVID variant Omnicron on services and the manufacturing sector.
About 10 per cent of the CEOs polled believe that it could even exceed 10 per cent during 2021-22. “Government's strong emphasis on public works, timely interventions to boost liquidity and several reforms carried out in the recent months including easing regulations, Production Linked Incentives scheme, RoDTEP and several other bold reforms have buoyed the optimism on higher economic growth," said CII President T V Natarajan.
Worries over Omicron: On the impact of Omicron on business, 55 per cent of the CEOs polled expect that the services sector would get adversely impacted due to the spread of the new variant of coronavirus, while another 34 per cent of the CEOs indicated that it could adversely impact manufacturing activities.
Upbeat on growth: According to the CEOs poll, 56 per cent of the respondents indicated that the economy would grow in the range of 9 per cent to 10 per cent during 2021-22, while another 10 per cent polled expected the growth rate in excess of 10 per cent this fiscal year, CII said.
Upbeat on sentiments: The respondents were also upbeat on sentiments regarding their business, with 35 per cent of the CEOs indicating that the increase in revenue this year in the range of 10-20 per cent when compared to pre-COVID year (2019-20), while another 33 per cent expected a bigger jump of more than 20 per cent.
Upbeat on profits: It further said that about 35 per cent of the CEOs polled expected more than 20 per cent increase in gross profits when compared to the pre Covid year, while another 17 per cent indicated an increase of 10 per cent to 20 per cent.
Supply chain bottlenecks: This optimism among the CEOs is despite more than a third of them (70 percent) observing that supply chain bottlenecks were causing problems in the movement of goods in their industry sector, the release said.
Capacity utilization: Further, given the pick-up in business activity this year, 59 per cent of the CEOs noted that capacity utilization in their companies was currently in the range of 70 per cent to 100 per cent, while 18 per cent of them felt that it could be more than 100 per cent.
Capital expenditure projections: Nearly a similar proportion (62 per cent) of the CEOs polled projected capital expenditure in their companies for the year 2022-23 to be up to Rs 500 crores.
Additionally, 71 per cent of the CEOs polled indicated that they did not raise resources in the Indian or global markets in the past year, while 18 per cent of them said that they had raised debt and another 11 per cent said that they raised equity in the Indian or global markets in the past year.
Exports and imports: On expected growth in exports, 35 per cent of the CEOs polled indicated up to 20 per cent increase in exports when compared to pre Covid year 2019-20, while 24 per cent felt that it would remain the same as in FY20.
Interestingly, about 10 per cent of the CEOs indicated more than 50 per cent growth in exports in their companies in the current year when compared to the pre-COVID year 2019-20.
