Underpinned by an increasingly positive outlook on the economy, Indian SMEs plan to increase capital expenditure and hire more staff in the next six months and a growing number are eyeing an offshore expansion for their business.
The latest HSBC research states that confidence among Indian SMEs surged in the fourth quarter of 2010, increasing more than any other SMEs in Asian market.
The research findings show the number of SMEs across India conducting international business activities is expected to rise from 31 per cent to 56 per cent by 2013. The increase is driven by domestic SMEs, 24 per cent of which plan to become international by 2013, revealed the bi-annual research. The HSBC Small Business Confidence Monitor gauges the six-month outlook of SMEs on local economic growth, capital investment plans and recruitment drives.
Dheeraj Dikshit, head of SME Business, HSBC India said, "We are seeing an increasing number of small to medium businesses who are looking to expand their business offshore and this is borne out in the results of this research. At the same time, economic conditions, particularly in the emerging markets, have returned to pre-crisis levels so the booming confidence that we are seeing is not surprising."
Further, the research showed positive outlook on local economic growth, which is expected to maintain the same pace in the next six months, while a larger portion of the respondents in the survey expect the pace to increase.
On the capital expenditure, the outlook remained largely seemed to be stable, however a smaller portion of the respondents were planning to increase their capital expenditures, while one per cent were planning reductions.
