The Hindu Business Line : Indian SMEs bullish about GDP growth: Study

Chennai, March 14 Indian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are among the most optimistic in Asia with 58 per cent of them expecting local economic growth to accelerate in the next six months, says the recent HSBC Asia-Pacific Small Business Confidence Survey.

According to the survey, while a majority of Indian SMEs are bullish about the GDP growth and hopeful of doing better business in the months to come, 38 per cent expect the economy to maintain the same pace. Only 4 per cent expect it to slow down.

Hire more workers

In fact, 68 per cent of the surveyed SMEs here plan to increase their capital investment, while 38 per cent plan to maintain it at the same levels as last year. They are even planning to hire more workers.

Around 57 per cent of the respondents say staffing levels will be maintained, while 43 per cent plan to hire more workers. None plans to cut jobs, says the survey.

SMEs in Vietnam and India are the most optimistic about trade growth with mainland China as well as trade with the rest of Asia. The majority of Indian SMEs (70 per cent) felt that trade with the rest of the world will also increase while the remaining 30 per cent expect trade levels to remain the same.

Announcing the outcome of the survey, Mr Bhuvnesh Khanna, Head of SME Business, HSBC India, said the survey conducted in the last quarter of 2007 by research company, TNS, covered 2,736 small and medium-sized enterprises across nine Asia Pacific countries – Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, India, Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam. In India, the survey covered 333 SMEs in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata.

He said, as in India, over 50 per cent of exports come from SMEs, opinion of this segment should be the best dipstick check in the country’s economic outlook. “Their optimism bodes well for India,” he said.

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