With a solid foundation of strong reforms process and fiscal prudence, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in its latest report has said that industry is expecting the gross domestic product (GDP) to grow by close to 8% over the next two years. It also said that the economy is in a sweet spot right now as the adjustment process regarding major reforms of the past few years is largely stabilised and industry is ready for a fresh phase of investment while capacity utilization builds up. It added that Rs 50,000 crore worth of investments have been recently announced.
According to a chief executive officers (CEOs) opinion poll, about 82% of them expect GDP growth to be higher than 7% for the year 2018-19, with 10% of them expecting growth to be above 7.5%. The survey said that industry is looking forward to GDP growth rate picking up to close to 8% over the next couple of years. It highlighted that fiscal prudence, able macroeconomic management, and strong reforms process have laid a sound foundation for growth.
The CII’s poll report stated that in the manufacturing sector, although input costs are rising the overall opinion was that demand is healthy. The report showed that CEOs noted good performance across sectors such as automotives, white goods, steel, cement, and capital goods. In the ICT sector, CEOs stated that the outlook is ‘good’ and that manufacturing of smartphone components is set to go up, indicating upward local value-addition.
