Industry sees weak demand in next 3 months: Ficci

Business Confidence Survey found that not only the cost but even the availability of credit had become a problem area for companies

Painting a gloomy picture, a survey by Ficci found that the industry sees a weak demand and bleak employment scenario over the next 3 months, plagued by econonic slowdown and high interest rates, even as there was a negligible improvement in outlook for the coming 6 months.

The Business Confidence Survey by Ficci found that not only the cost but even the availability of credit had become a problem area for companies, inhibiting investments. Almost 53% of the companies covered by the survey felt that high cost of credit was creating a problem for India Inc.

Only 24% of the companies saw an uptick in investments over the next six months, while 67% firms expected stagnant employment levels during the same period. Around 56% indicated that demand has declined by over 10%.

Moreover, lesser percentage of respondents cited an improvement in current performance as against the last six months at the economy and industry.

The overall Business Confidence Index value inched up to 60.8 in the current survey from 59.8 in the last survey round.

The survey was conducted during January and February this year and brings out expectations of the industry for the period January-June 2014.

It drew responses from about 173 companies with a wide sectoral and geographical spread and a turnover ranging from Rs 1 crore to Rs 3.7 lakh crore.

The participating companies belonged to a wide array of sectors such as textiles, cement, financial services, chemicals, construction, metal and metal products, automobiles, FMCG, electrical equipment and machinery, paper and paper products.