Himalayan News Service

New Delhi, February 13:

With Indian economy registering a healthy 6.6 per cent growth in the first half of 2004-05, despite a decline of 0.8 per cent in agriculture, Indian industry is bullish about growth in short term.

The optimism is based on a robust 9.3 per cent growth registered by the manufacturing sector in the first half of the same fiscal, said Onkar S Kanwar, president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), releasing today the Business Confidence Survey for the 2004-05 third quarter. But infrastructure problems are a major bane. “India Inc’s business confidence is soaring. The ‘feel good’ factor is on the upswing. The next six months promise to be even more exciting, with sales, profitability and exports expected to spiral upwards,” said Kanwar.

“With hopes of an industry-friendly budget (to be announced on February 28) and the optimism generated by the economic policy agenda set out by the prime minister, India Inc is on a roll,” Kanwar said.

Around 83 per cent of the 441 companies that responded to the FICCI Business Confidence Survey rated the current overall conditions of the Indian economy as ‘moderately to substantially’ better vis-à-vis the last six months. This represents a marked improvement over the 57 per cent who responded likewise in the last round.

The optimism was based on the marked improvement in the overall economic conditions, industry and firm-level performance during the last six months and great expectations of what lies in store in the next six months. Latest figures available for the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) show that the general index went up by 8.4 per cent in April-October. Exports shot up by 24 per cent in the first eight months of the current financial year and the country’s forex reserves are close to the $130 billion mark.

“The confluence of a host of positive factors has enthused the spirit of corporate India, which is extremely bullish on the present economic state of the country,”

said Kanwar.