NEW DELHI, MAY 28: The `feel good' factor is back in India Inc. Business confidence continues to be on the rise indicating the turnaround in the fortunes of the industry, according to a survey of 125 companies conducted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).An interim report of the 53rd CII Business Outlook Survey revealed sustained optimism in the corporate sector over a period of six months. The results of the present survey re-establish and reaffirm the existence of "feel good" factor in the corporate sector. Again, as in the previous survey, the optimism is prevalent "across the board" covering all sectors of industry. The corporate sector is upbeat on its performance in terms of several factors such as production, value of output, total order position, employment and retail sales. The expectations regarding profit margins for the next six months have also improved, according to the CII report. The survey relates to the actual performance of the industry during October 1999-March 2000 and the forecast for April to September 2000. The survey covers all sectors and includes small, medium and large enterprises and a regional representation including all the states. A comparison with the previous survey, in terms of the general business situation, reveals an improvement in overall sentiments. The numbers of the optimists have increased to 59 per cent as against 56 per cent in the 52ndsurvey. Those expecting a turn for the worse in the general business situation are 8 per cent compared to 7 per cent in the previous survey. The numbers who foresee the current trends to continue were 33 per cent in the current survey as against 37 per cent in the previous survey.The percentage of respondents envisaging more investments in the short term have also seen a strong rise, with an overwhelming majority of the respondents projecting increased investments.Of the responding corporates, those expecting to authorise higher capital expenditure have increased from 77 per cent in the previous survey to 89 per cent. While 95 per cent of the respondents expect an increase in production, only 5 per cent foresee a decline in production in their organisation.Around 71 per cent of the respondents expect profit margins to improve, 5 per cent expect the same trend and 23 per cent foresee lower profits during the next six months.But inflation up at 6.38 pcNEW DELHI: Maintaining its rising trend, the annual rate of inflation rose marginally to a 74-week high of 6.38 per cent for the week ended May 13 from 6.31 per cent in the previous week. The rate of inflation, based on wholesale price index (WPI), rose by 0.07 percentage points to 6.38 per cent (provisional) from the previous week's 6.31 per cent (P) and 3.18 per cent a year ago.Inflation rate has risen sharply in the last three to four months from three per cent and thereabouts in early February to the current rate, mainly on account of increase in prices of items under the group `fuel, power, light and lubricants'.The rise in inflation to 6.38 per cent during the week, the highest since 6.8 per cent on December 9, 1998, is despite the index for `all commodities' (base 1993-94=100) remaining unchanged during the week at 151.7 (P).The rate of inflation based on the final index for the week ended March 18 was sharply higher at 5.37 per cent compared to 3.95 per cent on the provisional index. The final index for all commodities for the week stood at 149.2 as against 147.2 on the provisional index.
