New investments virtually on hold in India, finds survey

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SME Times News Bureau | 26 Jul, 2013
New investments are virtually on hold in India, with half of the companies queried about it indicating that they have no plans for major investments in the current financial year, a survey has revealed.

Sluggish economic growth and deceleration in production have made manufacturing companies tread cautiously, according to a survey jointly conducted by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and accountacy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

Some 73 percent of the surveyed companies believe that customer requirements and expectations have changed due to the global economic environment as well as the domestic slowdown.

Around 42 percent are planning service additions to their products in order to respond to frequently shifting and disparate customer preferences, while 76 percent firms said they were resorting to cost efficiencies to meet customer requirements.

“In an environment of sluggish economic growth, it is not surprising that the mood exhibited by companies is cautious. Encouragingly, however, it appears that the sector is using this period to realign the business models and prepare for the future,” Bimal Tanna, leader, industrial products, PwC India, said in the report.

The survey called “India Manufacturing Barometer” covered senior executives from different manufacturing sectors like auto ancillary, building and construction materials, capital goods, chemicals, engineering and metals.