Economic slowdown may take toll on jobs: Ficci

Economic slowdown is expected to take toll on employment opportunities in the country as the Ficci business confidence survey has turned negative on this count for the first time since the 2008-09 global crisis.

It showed that Indian industry is in a sombre mood.

"The net responses with regard to prospect of employment opportunities has turned negative, the first time since the 2008-09 crisis. Thus, the current economic slowdown coupled with a negative growth in the employment prospects, may force the economy into a jobless growth," the survey said.

It said there is also a possibility for decline in investments in the coming months.

About one-fourth of the 150 companies that participated in the survey "believed that investments will go down in the next six months", as compared to only 11 per cent in the last quarter of 2011-12.

The survey said the Business Confidence Index during the April-June quarter stood at 51.8, down from 60.3 in the Q4 of FY'12.

"India inc. is in a sombre mood and business confidence has dipped," it said.

The respondents did not seem upbeat with regard to current performance and lacked optimism about future performance at all the three levels- economy, industry and firm level, it added.

"Weak demand continues to be a concern for members of corporate India," the survey said, adding that the cost of credit would also act as a big constraint in the coming months.

About half of the respondents said that India's GDP is expected to grow by less than 5.5 per cent in this fiscal.

The current drought situation would also have an impact on industry, it said.

The survey was conducted between July and August and brings out expectations of the corporate members for the period July-December.