CII Business Confidence Index rises in third quarter

In a sign of economic revival, the business confidence index (BCI) of industry lobby Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) rose during the October-December quarter of 2013-14.

On an overall basis, the BCI rose to 54.9 during October-December 2013-14, from 45.7 in the previous quarter.

The 85 business outlook survey which is based on responses from over 174 industry members also revealed that 58 percent of the respondents expect an increase in their sales in the third quarter of 2013-14.

Exports prospects also rose in the BCI with 53 percent of firms expecting to ship-out more products from 49 percent in the previous quarter.

"With positive signals emanating from the global economy, which finds a resonance in our improved export performance and is causing our current account deficit (CAD) to decline, we believe that the slowdown in the domestic economy may have bottomed out in the second quarter and the trend could reverse henceforth," said Chandrajit Banerjee, director general, CII.

"We need to be careful about the upward risk to fiscal deficit amid the scenario of weak economic growth translating into sluggish tax collection and growing chances of disinvestment proceeds falling well short of target."

The survey further revealed that 42 percent of the respondents saw the gross domestic product (GDP) grow in the range of 4.5 to 5 percent in 2013-14.