Industry & Economy
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Economy
Marginal rise in biz confidence index
Our Bureau
New Delhi
,
May 13
THE Business Confidence Index (BCI), a barometer monitoring the corporate pulse and projecting growth impulses of the economy, has remained on course with a slight uptrend noticeable in the latest round of survey by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER).
The BCI has stayed on course recording a marginal half percentage point increase over the previous round, to reach 143.1 in the current round. Overall economic conditions and investment climate register a higher rating in the present round, despite expectations of lower financial performance and improvement in capacity utilisation compared to January 2005.
Across the sectors, services are the most optimistic at this time followed by intermediate goods. Compared to the previous round, services and intermediate goods show an increase in BCI by 5 per cent and 3.1 per cent, respectively.
While the companies in the East, West, and North are optimistic in this round, firms down South have turned pessimistic compared to the last round.
After turning optimistic in the previous round, public sector firms have turned pessimistic in the current round. This flip-flop perhaps reflects their unsure perception of the short-term future.
While wages of managerial/skilled workforce are expected to decline during the next six months, exactly the opposite holds good for the unskilled workforce. More firms are looking to hire a managerial and skilled workforce in the current round.
Though firms are upbeat on the export front, the same is not reflected in their sales and production growth projection for the next six months. Although there is some variation in the pattern of positive and negative impact of the 2005-06 Budget across sectors, the industry seems to have taken this in its stride.
In line with BCI, the Political Confidence Index also has marginally improved in the present round compared to the previous round and currently stands at 119.5, the council said.
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