CII forecasts rosy picture of economy

PUNE, NOV 26: After a gap of three years Indian industry is showing signs of growth. "There are indications of a recovery and this i...

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PUNE, NOV 26: After a gap of three years Indian industry is showing signs of growth. "There are indications of a recovery and this is durable and likely to last and is not a flash in the pan," Confederation of Indian Industry president Rahul Bajaj said here today.

The positive indications have emerged from the 52nd CII Business Outlook Survey released by CII at the National council meeting held in Pune today. The survey relates to the actual performance of the industry during April-September 1999 and the forecast for October-March 1999-2000.

Briefing the media, Arun Bharat Ram, chairman, CII Associations Council, said there has been a turnaround in the industry performance for the period of April to October 1999. The forecast is that many of the sectors that have shown higher rate of growth for production, sales and exports will continue to do well, Bharat Ram said.

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Around 56 per cent of respondents expect the general business situation to improve in the next six months. Last year only 39 per centexpressed similar sentiments. Only seven per cent in the current survey expect business to decline. More than 56 per cent are projecting growth in orders. Nearly 93 per cent of the respondents expect an increase in production. Nearly 37 per cent expect above 80 per cent capacity utilisation in the next six months while 40 per are expecting a 61 per cent to 80 per cent growth.

Of the 125 sectors for which production trends were available, 24 sectors reported excellent growth rates of over 20 per cent as compared to 11 sectors last year. Some of the sector reporting excellent growth in the review are caustic soda, power transformers, motor stampings and electrical cables.