FICCI survey projects moderation in manufacturing gorwth

According to the latest quarterly survey on manufacturing by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry there was continued growth moderation in the sector. The slowdown resulted from moderation in consumer demand, moderate export growth and rising raw material costs.

The survey found that, based on responses from 384 manufacturing units, 87 per cent of total respondents said that they expected moderation of growth in their sector in the third quarter of the current fiscal as against the year- ago period. Over 74 per cent of the respondents in the previous survey had said they expected a moderation of growth FICCI said.

''Also in the last survey, manufacturers did not expect exports to moderate significantly but by contrast, in the latest survey pessimism has risen on the exports outlook as well,'' added a FICCI statement.

Based on differing expectations across sectors, the survey found that nine out of 13 sectors would experience low ( less than 5 per cent) to moderate (between 5 and 10 per cent) growth in the third quarter.

The sectors include cement, steel, textiles, chemicals, capital goods, paper and electricals, while sectors such as automotive, auto-components, leather and food processing and miscellaneous would likely witness strong growth of over 10 per cent in third quarter, according to the survey.

More than 65 per cent of the participants said they were not planning to increase workforce in the next three months. An appreciable fall in capacity utilisation was also expected during the quarter, it  said, that the capacity utilisation levels were especially low in sectors like textiles, consumer electronics and electricals.