“There has been a significant and perceptible positive movement in percentage points recorded by many of the sectors which were in moderate and negative growth category a year ago,” Forbes said.
The survey by ASCON for the April-June first quarter, is based on responses collected from sectoral industry associations and reveals a slight improvement in growth trends in production over the corresponding period a year ago. Of the 93 sectors polled, 16.1 per cent recorded excellent growth of more than 20 per cent during the quarter in question as compared to 7.1 per cent in the year-ago period. However, the share of sectors that saw high growth rates with 10 to 20 per cent, reduced significantly to 9.7 per cent in the April- June quarter from 14.3 per cent during the same period of the previous fiscal.
The survey tracked the estimated growth trends in terms of production, sales and exports. Responses were classed under four broad categories; excellent (growth in excess of 20 per cent), high (growth in the range of 10-20 per cent), moderate (0-10 per cent) and negative (below zero). The share of sectors reporting moderate growth declined marginally to 51.7 per cent during the quarter as compared to 51.8 per cent in the period a year ago.
Further, the number of sectors recording negative growth has fallen from 26.9 per cent in the first quarter last year to 23.6 per cent this year. On the other hand, the survey's respondents cited industrial relations, transport infrastructure bottlenecks and the cost and availability of finance as moderately important factors impeding growth.
“On the issues impacting growth, margin pressure from stiff competition, competition from imports, shortage of power, high regulatory burden, lack of domestic and export demand, shortage of skilled labour and talent, and high tax burden have been cited as the most important constraints by more than 50 per cent of the respondents,” the CII said. “However, a sustainable recovery would be conditional on improvement in domestic demand and investment revival.”
