Indian executives the most optimistic on inflation, economy

Business executives in India are the most optimistic in the world, when it comes to their take on inflation and the overall economy in the country six months down the lane, a new survey states.

According to the Economic and Hiring Outlook survey by the international consultancy major McKinsey for the latest quarter, 77 per cent of Indian executives said they think the country's economy would get "better" in six months.

This is the highest for the executives from any other region including China, Europe, North America and other Asia -Pacific nations.

Besides, the optimism level of 77 per cent in India is considerably higher than the global average of 36 per cent and the Asia-Pacific average of 46 per cent.

In China, 65 per cent executives said they expect the country's economy to improve in next six months, while it was just 26 per cent in North America.

On the inflation front, 19 per cent Indian executives said they expect inflation to decline in the next six months, which was the highest for any other region and significantly above the global average of 9 per cent and Asia-Pacific average of 4 per cent.

Besides, just 27 per cent of the executives in India said they expect inflation rate to increase in next six months, which was the lowest in the world. It was highest in China at 71 per cent, while the global and Asia-Pacific averages stood at 39 per cent and 52 per cent.

The survey found that about 53 per cent of Indians expect inflation to remain unchanged, higher than the global average of 51 per cent and 43 per cent in Asia-Pacific.

"More than half of the respondents expect inflation to remain stable over the next six months. That patter holds even in India, where three months ago only a fifth of the respondents expected inflation to remain stable, but more than half currently do," McKinsey said.

"The share of respondents who expect inflation to increase has fallen notably across the regions "" roughly in line with, though less than, the drop in the respondents' economic confidence," it noted.