Inflation and business pressure weigh on India Inc growth, says S&P

Inflation concerns and competitive pressures stymied business confidence and weakened the optimism of private sector companies in February, said a report by S&P Global Market Intelligence, on Monday. However, the companies identified demand resilience, product diversification, advertising and pipelines of new work as opportunities.

The report titled ‘India Business Outlook’ said despite companies remaining positive about the output levels over the course of the year, optimism in February was below both the global and emerging market averages. Along with Brazil and Japan, the S&P Global India business activity net balance slipped to 21 per cent in January from 28 per cent in October 2022, highlighting a lesser degree of optimism, well below the global (32 per cent) and emerging market (33 per cent) averages.

“Investment targets were pulled back, in line with receding confidence for profitability,” the report added.