Industrial sales volume and hiring of workforce is going to improve in the first half of 2015, says the finding of an Assocham Business Confidence Index survey.
Around 54.2 per cent of the respondents in the survey felt that not much has really changed on the ground in the last six months, but a greater number of corporate expressed optimism about improve in their industry’s performance in the first six months of 2015.
“December 2014 results indicate that the general consensus (62.5 per cent) at the industry level seems to be that their industry’s performance in the coming six months would improve,” said Assocham in a press release.
As many as 45.8 per cent respondents to the survey believed that January-March 2015 quarter would not see any change in their domestic investment plans, while a considerable 41.7 per cent expected the job hiring prospects to improve in the next quarter and in subsequent months. Similar outlook was seen as regards international investment plans.
Explaining this, DS Rawat, Assocham secretary general, said, “Typically investment follows improvement in sales and profitability. The latter things –sales and profitability are falling in place and there would be a visible change in the next few months following which investment should follow since there is always a lag.”
Around 58.3 per cent of the respondents to the Assocham Business Confidence Index said they expected their sales volume to increase during January to March 2015, and 45.8 per cent of them expressed similar outlook for profits.
Similarly, majority (58.3 per cent) of the firms expected their order books position to improve in the January-March 2015 quarter, indicating the possibility of a revival in the demand within the economy.
However, the industry had concerns as it expected the wage costs to increase in the January-March 2015 quarter, with nearly half the respondents concurring with this view.
In terms of foreign trade, majority of respondents said they expect that there will be no change in their export-import volume.
Majority of the respondents felt that raw material prices would not increase further in the January-March 2015 quarter, Assocham said.
