New Delhi– The business confidence in India has fallen during the January-March period primarily as a fallout of demonetisation, accompanied by an uncertain global climate, a survey said on Wednesday.
“Business confidence in India has fallen in Q4 but remains more optimistic of a swift recovery than the global average,” the latest Global Economic Conditions Survey — conducted jointly by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) — said.
“Sentiment has fallen in India to the lowest level since the start of 2016. This is in part due to a very uncertain global climate, but primarily due to the challenges of implementing the demonetisation campaign, which has been extremely disruptive to normal business operations,” ACCA Head of International Development Md. Sajid Khan said.
Yet, there is reason to believe this fall in confidence is a blip, Khan added.
“Recent economic reforms have improved the outlook for growth, and confidence over the past year has been higher than the global average. Overall, 30 per cent of respondents in South Asia are more optimistic about their future prospects, which is higher than in Europe and Asia-Pacific,” he said.
The survey of over 4,500 finance professionals and business leaders worldwide has found that the economic outlook has improved slightly in the US and China during January to March, while the confidence dipped in South Asia.
However, the respondents are more optimistic about their future economic prospects.
“Fieldwork for the survey took place between November 24 and December 13, 2016 and attracted 4,551 responses from the ACCA and IMA members around the world, including more than 350 chief financial officers,” the survey report stated. (IANS)
