D&B Business Optimism Index rises over 11% for Q3 2014

A stable government at the Centre seems to have had an impact on the country's business climate, as India Inc's optimism index for the third quarter of this year has registered an increase of over 11 per cent over last year, a Dun & Bradstreet report has said.
The Business Optimism Index (BOI), which measures the pulse of the business community, stood at 145.5 during Q3 2014, an increase of 11.4 per cent as compared to Q3 2013.
"The installation of a stable government at the Centre has generated optimism regarding an economy which has been challenged on many fronts - inflation, job creation, investment, industrial production and most importantly public finance management," Dun & Bradstreet India President & CEO Kaushal Sampat said.

Five out of the six optimism indices namely, volume of sales, net profits, new orders, selling prices and employee levels have registered an increase as compared to Q3 2013.
"The new government thus far has relayed all right signals, causing the investor community - domestic and global- to believe that the 'moment of emergence' has indeed arrived for the Indian economy," Sampat said adding that "the exuberance in the financial markets and the strengthening of the rupee bear testimony to this."
The Budget will be the first key opportunity for the new government to demonstrate its development agenda and usher in a new era of economic policies.

"Articulation of a credible and realistic fiscal consolidation plan, clarity on retrospective amendments to taxation laws, expediting the pace of project clearances, addressing supply chain and marketing inefficiencies in agriculture are some immediate expectations from the government," he added.
For calculating the composite BOI, each of the six parameters -- net sales, net profits, selling prices, new orders, inventories and employee levels -- is assigned a weight. The parameter weights are then applied to these ratios and the results aggregated to arrive at the Composite Business Optimism Index.