Is Indian CEO confidence highest in world?

Indian CEOs expect their businesses to be less affected by the crisis in the international banking system than their global counterparts.

PricewaterhouseCoopers’ 12th Annual Global CEO Survey found only 50% of the respondents in India saying they were likely to be affected by the credit crisis, as compared to 70% globally.

India has recorded the highest CEO confidence levels amongst the emerging economies, with 70% expressing confidence about both short term and long term revenue growth, compared to just 21% and 34% globally. CEOs worldwide were gloomier about longer-term growth, predicting a slow recovery.

“This confidence is extremely significant since it signals the inherent strength of the Indian market, and its continuing potential for growth even in the face of crisis,” said Ramesh Rajan, chairman of PwC, India. Pessimism prevailed across all geographic regions, business sectors and levels of economic development, said the survey. Only 15% of CEOs in North America and 15% in Western Europe expressed confidence about growth prospects for the next 12 months. This compared with 21% in the emerging economies of Central and Eastern Europe, 31% in Asia Pacific, and 21% in Latin America.

The outlook for the next 12 months was optimistic for Indian CEOs as 89% of the respondents expect to make a return on investment in products or services provided, compared to 69% globally. 60% of Indian respondents said that they were likely to grow their businesses by penetrating existing markets better, compared to 37% globally.

Indian CEOs indicated that M&A activities were likely to play a greater role in the growth of their businesses than JVs or strategic alliances, in contrast with the global trend. 97% of Indian CEOs indicated that information about employee views and needs was important in making decisions about the long-term success and durability of their business, compared to 88% globally. The India figure was highest in Asia too.

For the survey, 1,124 interviews with CEOs were conducted in 50 countries during the last quarter of 2008.

Times of India

Is India back on FDI radar despite recession?

At a time when the world economy is facing the worst credit freeze in several decades, India attracted USD 2.7-billion FDI in January, up 58.8 per cent from a year ago, and remained a favourite destination for cross-border investments.

"January numbers are very good...it is an indication of the confidence that the rest of the world has in India," Secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion Ajay Shankar said.

The foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows for the April-January period aggregated to USD 23.8 billion and is expected to cross the last year's target of USD 25 billion this fiscal.

Though the government had set a target of USD 35-billion FDI for 2008-09, it looked rather ambitious in the wake of the global downturn.

Up to September this fiscal, the monthly inflows were in excess of USD 2 billion. However, the following three months saw a sharp dip in the overseas investments.

The January figures bring a renewed hope that India is back on the radar of global investors.

Agencies