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Swifter recovery likely from 2nd COVID-19 wave in India: CII CEOs Poll
13 Jul '21
3 min read
Pic: Shutterstock
The latest Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) CEOs Poll of 119 top companies indicates swifter economic recovery from the impact of the second COVID-19 wave. About 59 per cent of the chief executive officers polled expect the recovery in sales to be better than in the first wave for their companies, while 46 per cent expressed a similar trend for their respective industry sectors.
“The deadly second wave has not affected much of the economic activities as the lockdowns were largely designed to limit social gathering and this has helped limit the impact of second wave on economic growth when compared to the first wave”, according to CII director general Chandrajit Banerjee.
Vaccination holds the key to mitigating the impact of the second wave on economic activity and boosting consumer sentiment. Encouragingly, Indian businesses are making concerted efforts to vaccinate their employees as reflected by the poll results which reveal that 55 per cent of the employees of the polled firms have been vaccinated with at least the first dose of the vaccine, said a CII release.
Assessing the consumer demand for their sectors, around half of the CEOs expect consumer demand to be better in the first half of 2021-22 when compared to the same period in 2019-20. Similarly, 72 per cent of the CEOs expect private investments to be better in first half of the current fiscal compared to the same period in 2019-20.
Around 62 per cent of the corporate leaders confirmed that their firm was compelled to scale back operations during the second wave, because of which the adverse impact on the profitability parameters of the firms is apparent as well.
The poll shows that 44 per cent and 39 per cent of the CEOs expect the dent on their revenue and net profit growth respectively to be more than 10 per cent in the first half of the current fiscal compared to the same period in 2019-20.
“The good news which got further attestation from the poll results is that the external demand has remained supportive, with 81 per cent of the respondents expecting that the second wave in India will not have adverse impact on the exports for their sector in the first half of the current year than the comparable period in 2019-20”, said Banerjee.
The buoyant external demand is buttressed by large-scale global stimulus and the fast pace of vaccination coverage across key global economies.
An overwhelming 83 per cent of the CEOs polled foresee either an increase in hires or maintenance of status-quo on the hiring front.
“The deadly second wave has not affected much of the economic activities as the lockdowns were largely designed to limit social gathering and this has helped limit the impact of second wave on economic growth when compared to the first wave”, according to CII director general Chandrajit Banerjee.
Vaccination holds the key to mitigating the impact of the second wave on economic activity and boosting consumer sentiment. Encouragingly, Indian businesses are making concerted efforts to vaccinate their employees as reflected by the poll results which reveal that 55 per cent of the employees of the polled firms have been vaccinated with at least the first dose of the vaccine, said a CII release.
Assessing the consumer demand for their sectors, around half of the CEOs expect consumer demand to be better in the first half of 2021-22 when compared to the same period in 2019-20. Similarly, 72 per cent of the CEOs expect private investments to be better in first half of the current fiscal compared to the same period in 2019-20.
Around 62 per cent of the corporate leaders confirmed that their firm was compelled to scale back operations during the second wave, because of which the adverse impact on the profitability parameters of the firms is apparent as well.
The poll shows that 44 per cent and 39 per cent of the CEOs expect the dent on their revenue and net profit growth respectively to be more than 10 per cent in the first half of the current fiscal compared to the same period in 2019-20.
“The good news which got further attestation from the poll results is that the external demand has remained supportive, with 81 per cent of the respondents expecting that the second wave in India will not have adverse impact on the exports for their sector in the first half of the current year than the comparable period in 2019-20”, said Banerjee.
The buoyant external demand is buttressed by large-scale global stimulus and the fast pace of vaccination coverage across key global economies.
An overwhelming 83 per cent of the CEOs polled foresee either an increase in hires or maintenance of status-quo on the hiring front.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
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