The Hindu Business Line : India Inc working to maintain momentum in subdued market: Study

Bangalore, Dec. 10 India Inc is concerned about the business climate arising out of the gloomy economic environment but feels optimistic about opportunities that could help it tide over the current subdued market sentiments.

Middle-level management’s reaction was opposed to top management’s optimism.

Mid-level executives sensed a great deal of uncertainty of what is going to happen amongst the younger generation, 34 per cent of them were also unsure of the capabilities of their firm or firmly believed that their company was not poised to take on challenges.

The study, ‘India Business Climate Perception Study’, done by leading integrated brand communications firm says sectors such as education, news & media, and healthcare are expected throw up new opportunities and do well.

Mr Ramanujam Sridhar, CEO, brand-comm, said, “The Indian and world economy are wedded together.

“Some industries seem to be more vulnerable than others”.

However, the study pointed out that India Inc has already started preparing to ensure that they maintain their momentum even in an unpredictable world business climate.

More than 60 per cent felt that there were indeed opportunities for India Inc to capitalise on but management should be more prudent, innovative and fast to take advantage.

Sector Outlook

The survey pointed out that that the industries which will be well off in 2009 include education (95 per cent of respondents), news & media (89 per cent), healthcare (88 per cent), FMCG (85 per cent), biotechnology (76 per cent), advertising and PR (70 per cent) and organised retail (64 per cent.

The respondents felt companies that will have a difficult time include airline/aviation (75 per cent), real estate (72 per cent), travel/holiday (65 per cent), automobiles (58 per cent) and IT-enabled services (56 per cent)

“The coming year will see the “back to school” trend among working professionals.

“The education sector will do extremely well, especially graduate programmes and distance education,” said Ms Vidhya Srinivasan, COO, brand-comm.

Innovation focus

Two third of the respondents indicated that their companies are poised to handle the challenges ahead with their strategies focusing on innovation (71 per cent) not only in products and service offerings but also in terms of technology and marketing efforts in 2009.

Traditional advertising (TV/print campaigns) will give way to other marketing activities. Sixty six per cent of the respondents do not expect a rise in corporate advertising budgets in 2009, the study said.

It added that direct marketing, public relations, online advertising and online marketing will garner more outlays.

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