India Inc. expects economy to grow by 5-6%
Monday, 02 June 2003, 19:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: Indian industry believes that the economy will register a growth of between five and six percent in the current fiscal year, up from 4.4 percent logged in 2002-03. In a survey conducted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), nearly 59 percent of respondents said the country's gross domestic product (GDP) growth would be in the range of five to six percent. "Twenty-six percent said that growth would exceed six percent and the remaining 15 percent felt the economy would not cross the five percent mark," said the survey report released Sunday. Local industry, however, feels that the slow recovery of the U.S. economy and other major global economies will act as "limiting factors" to industrial output. Infrastructure bottlenecks too will impact economic growth, the respondents said. A majority of respondents said despite recent cuts in the bank rate by the Reserve Bank of India, the high rate of interest continued to act as the "most significant factor" impeding easy access to finance. "Reluctance exhibited by banks to lend, limited access to global and domestic capital markets, procedural hassles and subdued equity and money markets are other factors impeding easy access to finance," the report said. The report said nearly 66 percent of respondents were expecting exports demand to increase in the next six months.
Source: IANS
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