Rural Business confidence index touches 63.9 in Oct 21: CRIF Highmark-CII

This signifies high optimism and industry's upbeat mood on the rural economy in India

Keeping with the upturn in the Indian economy, the Rural Business Confidence (RBC) Index showed a high reading of 63.9 in October 2021. It signifies high optimism and industry’s upbeat mood on the rural economy in India, according to an index launched by CII- CRIF High Mark.

This is the first time the duo have come out with such an index, and would release a reading on it twice a year. RBC Index will be ranged between zero and 100. Higher the RBC Index, the better is the outlook on rural business sentiment.

The Survey undertaken for index in September and October 2021 across industry sectors from different geographies showed 59 per cent of respondents expect their organizations' order books to improve affecting businesses in Rural India.

Also 48 per cent of respondents expect profitability of their organization to improve, 54 per cent of respondents expect ease of access to credit to the rural economy to improve.

The Rural Business Confidence Index is envisaged to guide policy and decision makers, industry and financial institutions to improve sentiment, investment & lending and starting new lines of business, credit information bureau CRIF Mark- said in a statement. Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has collaborated with CRIF High Mark.

The Index further illustrates that despite COVID-19 pandemic, disbursement of retail loans in rural India showed robust expansion. It witnessed a growth of 23 per cent by value from Rs. 10.10 trillion in F19 to Rs 12.45 trillion in Fy 21. Growth measured in volumes was also high at 30 per cent from 50.6 million in FY19 to 66.1 million in FY 21).

Disbursement of Commercial loans in three years was led by small ticket size loans. They witnessed about 100 per cent growth by volume from 0.24 million loans in Fy19 to 0.49 million loans in Fy21. But, small ticket loans de-grew by 33 per cent by value from Rs 7.25 trillion in Fy 19 to Rs 4.83 trillion in FY21.

Referring to perception about infrastructure and policies, 88 per cent of respondents expect improvement of digital penetration, 72% expect quality of infrastructure to improve. About 72 per cent expect improvement in government initiatives and policies to drive rural growth, it added.