December 20, 2021
Schemes such as the PLIs and announcements intended to increase liquidity within the economy were cited as growth drivers.
Most respondents reported concerns about the impact of the Omicron variant on the manufacturing and service industries.
70% of the CEOs identified that supply chain bottlenecks were disrupting the movement of goods within their sectors.
73% of the CEOs indicated that there was less than 10% import dependence on China by their individual businesses.
A national poll conducted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) among 100 CEOs indicated an improvement in overall business sentiment in the face of the Omicron variant of the SARS-Coronavirus. The sentiment is buoyed by a wealth of government-led initiatives to boost multiple sectors of the economy through Production Linked Incentives (PLI), liquidity infusion and improving the overall ease of doing business. Worries about the potential impact of the Omicron variant on the manufacturing sector and services sector remained among 34% and 55% of the interviewees respectively. 10% of them maintained that growth could exceed 10% whereas 56% restricted the growth prospects to 9% in 2021-22.
With regard to their specific lines of business, 70% of them identified supply chain bottlenecks as the cause for restrictions in the movement of goods. 33% of the respondents expected a 33% increase in business revenue in comparison to the 2019-20 period as against 35% of them who expected a 10-12% increase. 62% of them projected their capital expenditure for 2022-23 to be within Rs 500 crores and 59% of them felt that their respective firms exhibited between 70-100% capacity utilization.
On the import and export front, 35% of CEOs exhibited a 20% growth in exports in comparison to pre-COVID standards whereas 24% felt that there weren’t significant improvements in export growth. 22% of the CEOs indicated a 10-25% import reliance on China whereas 73% indicated a less than 10% rate of dependence.