India Inc sees improvement in job scenario in Q4 FY13: CII

There is an expectation among a significant number of firms of improvement in employment opportunities in the fourth quarter of this fiscal despite the sluggish economy, according to Business Outlook Survey by industry chamber CII.

Also read: April-Feb fiscal deficit at 97.4% of FY13 target: Govt

As per the survey for January-March 2013, majority of India Inc (54.1 percent), however, expect no change in their employment levels.

"However, expectations have improved as 23.5 percent foresee an increase in their employment levels in the fourth quarter as compared to 11.7 percent in the third-quarter," CII said.

According to the survey, over 30 percent of the firms saw a fall in their staff levels in October-December 2012.

"Expectations for the January-March of 2012-13 reveal that once again majority of the respondent firms (54.1 percent) expect no change in their employment levels, while 22.4 percent expect it to decline," the survey said.

The report showed that in the third-quarter of 2012-13, majority of the respondent firms (58.3 percent) kept their staff levels unchanged as opposed to 30.1 percent, which saw a fall in their employment levels.

Despite the GDP growth falling to 4.5 percent in the October-December period of the current financial year compared to 6 percent in the same period of last fiscal, the CII survey indicated that 43.5 percent of the respondents expect the Indian economy to expand by 5-5.5 percent for 2012-13.

"In an indication of improvement in economic growth in 2013-14, majority of the respondents expect GDP growth next year to conform to the official estimates of 6.1-6.7 percent as forecast in the Economic Survey," it added.

On inflation front, 42 percent of respondents expect average WPI inflation to lie in a range of 7-8.0 percent in 2012-13. For 2013-14, however, 37.4 percent respondents hope inflation to moderate and come down in to 6-7 percent.

"Even as the government remains committed to adhering to target of fiscal consolidation, majority of the respondents (62.4 percent) expect the fiscal deficit to exceed the budgeted estimate of 4.8 percent for next fiscal," CII said.

On the current account deficit too, the industry chamber said most of the respondents expect it to lie in a range of 4-5 percent of GDP in both current as well as next fiscal.

Considering all these aspects and reflecting the recent reform steps initiated by the government, the CII Business Confidence Index, which had slipped below the psychological 50 level mark in the third-quarter of the current fiscal, rose to 51.3 in the final quarter.

Commenting on the development, CII director-general Chandrajit Banerjee said: "Though the index has strengthened in the final quarter of the current fiscal, it is too early to assume that the slowdown has bottomed out and the green shoots of recovery have begun to emerge."