India’s Business Confidence Index up 4.1% in Q3

Economic think-tank National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) said India's business confidence index (BCI) moved up by 4.1 per cent in the third quarter of the current fiscal.

In a release, NCAER said, India’s Business Confidence Index (BCI) increased by 4.1 per cent over the previous quarter, from 142.5 in October 2014 to 148.4 in December.

The BCI index rose during the quarter on factors including expectation of improved economic conditions, positive investment climate and rise in capacity utilization.

However, companies' view about their financial position improving in next six months showed negative change.

"The BCI rose for all five sectors of the economy (consumer durables, consumer non-durables, intermediate goods, capital goods and services) over the previous quarter, with the services sector showing the largest growth of 12.5 per cent."

Services sector also showed the highest BCI. The BCIs of capital goods and consumer non durables sector grew handsomely, by 8.8 and 8 per cent, respectively, said NCAER.

Sentiment on production, domestic sales, exports and pre-tax profits were mixed. Shares of firms expecting increases in these variables rose, while shares of those expecting expansion of more than 10 per cent declined, it said.

On polity, NCAER's Political Confidence Index (PCI) continued to rise and increased by 1.4 per cent during the quarter, it said.

"Service sector units showed the maximum growth of 23 per cent in PCI. Intermediate goods and capital goods units showed a decline in PCI. Regionally, the north grew by the most whereas the west declined by the most," it added.