BUSINESS CONFIDENCE AT LOWEST IN SIX YEARS

NEWDELHI: Business confidence of Indian companies dropped to the lowest in six years in the three months to October, a survey released by think tank National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) showed on Monday. The Business Confidence Index (BCI) declined 15.3% to 103.1 from the preceding three months, according to the quarterly survey. The last time the index was lower than the current level was in the quarter ended October 31, 2013 at 100.4. “The numbers suggest a deep and all-pervasive worsening of business sentiments,” NCAER said.

Consumer confidence has also dipped to a sixyear low in September as sentiment around employment, income and discretionary spending declined, according to RBI’S monetary policy released last month.

RBI said consumer confidence weakened in September, with both the current situation index and the future expectations index recording declines.

The Current Situation Index declined to 89.4 in September from 95.7 recorded in July, the data showed. In September 2013, it touched 88.

Indian businesses have been battling a demand slowdown and liquidity crunch, which resulted in economic growth rate cooling to a six-year-low of 5% in the June quarter, while private consumption expenditure was at an 18-quarter-low of 3.1%.

Firms with annual revenue of less than ₹1 crore were the only group that showed a slight upswing of 2% in BCI over the previous quarter.