BOOST IN JOB CREATION LIKELY, SAYS SURVEY

The ongoing revival in consumption demand is expected to increase investment and capacity utilisation in coming months leading to improvement in job opportunities.

A survey conducted by CII showed that majority of CEOs have turned quite optimistic about the domestic growth prospects with visible improvement in demand and capacity utilisation.

According to it, 92 per cent of the CEOs are expecting an improvement in consumption demand while 82 per cent said the capacity utilisation at Indian factories are set to increase.

With regards to job creation, 56 per cent of the CEOs expect jobs to increase during FY19 and just 18 per cent believe that job creation will be maintained at the current levels.

“This implies surge in investments going forward,” said Rakesh Bharti Mittal, president, CII adding that `50,000 crore worth of investments have been recently announced. He said that the industry is looking forward to GDP growth picking up close to 8 per cent over the next couple of years.

In the manufacturing sector, the overall opinion of CII members was that demand is healthy, although input costs are rising. CEOs noted good performance across sectors such as automotives, white goods, steel, cement, and capital goods.

In the Information communication and technology sector, CEOs stated that the outlook is ‘good’ and that manufacturing of smartphone components is set to go up, indicating upward local value-addition. “Most manufacturing sectors are firing up now, with automotives, FMCG, electronics and chemicals leading the way. Rural demand can be expected to remain resurgent on the back of normal monsoons as forecasted, while public spending on infrastructure is boosting prospects for capital goods and downstream sectors,” Mr Mittal said.

Coming to the infra sector, CEOs stated that there is a ‘discernible pick-up’ now as compared to a few years ago.