Investment outlook grim: Ficci survey

The outlook on investment, exports and profits for India Inc had taken a hit, with companies expected to absorb the rise in input costs, a survey done by industry chamber Ficci said.

The Ficci Business Confidence Survey for the third quarter of the current fiscal shows that 45 per cent of the respondents expected the investment outlook for the next six months to be better against 54 per cent in the previous survey.

"The outlook on investment has taken a hit owing to the spiralling capital goods' prices coupled with the rising cost of credit. Lower investment in the near future may have long-term impact of slowing down the economy," the survey said.

However, Ficci said the overall business confidence index at 75.0 was higher than 72.1 in the last quarter. It said condition index, expectation index and business confidence index were in the "significantly optimistic" zone.