India’s economy to perform better in 2nd half of this fiscal: Survey

The Dollar Business Bureau

The country’s economy would perform better in the second half of the financial year, said the recent ASSOCHAM Bizcon Survey.

The survey said that the trend seems to have started from the quarter beginning October, with 66.7% respondents expecting an upward trend in sales, capacity utilisation, but the positive sentiments on fresh investment are tentative. 
 
The increased spending on infrastructure development, mainly in the government, appears as the major driver for the turnaround in the economic growth outlook for the given quarter and the last quarter period of this fiscal. 
 
The other best drivers for the positive economic outlook are effective policy reforms and stable rates of foreign exchange of Indian currency in spite of global head winds such as uncertainty with regards to Federal Reserve’s next move on policy and the upcoming Presidential elections in the US.  
 
Though a number of survey participants felt the current economic situation seems to be in a better shape compared to the last six months on various parameters, the optimistic outlook is more noticeable for the second half of 2016-17. 
 
Sunil Kanoria, President, ASSOCHAM, said “Good thing is, there is a clear turnaround in business confidence, which holds the key to new investment and consumer confidence.”

Unlike the surveys done previously, the latest one shows a slight upward trend even on account of capacity utilisation and the order book. However, new employment generation and improvement in wages is yet some distance away, he added.