MC-Deloitte CEO Survey: 62.2% of India Inc says infra spending key to driving growth

India’s growth declined to a seven quarter low of 5.4 percent in Q2FY25 as manufacturing and investment growth slowed down.

A majority of industry leaders see continued emphasis on infrastructure as the primary driver of India's growth, a Moneycontrol-Deloitte survey of 45 chief executive officers (CEO) has found.

The exclusive Moneycontrol-Deloitte CEO survey was conducted between January 10 and January 22 across financial services, consumer goods, technology, and energy sectors.

The survey showed that 62.2 percent of the respondents believe that focussing on digital and physical infrastructure spending will be key to sustaining and bettering the country's growth.

India's young skilled workforce and a large consumer base is also expected to support the country's growth trajectory, as agreed upon by 60 percent of the respondents.

Sixty percent of the respondents reiterated that the growing importance of the services sector in employment creation and exports will drive the economy.

A sizeable 53.3 percent of the CEOs said bold reforms to boost manufacturing and job prospects will be key to India’s growth.

A smaller 26.7 percent and 17.8 percent of CEOs cited India's start-up ecosystem and improved trade relations owing to foreign trade agreements, respectively, as main drivers of growth.

The economy is estimated to grow at 6.5 percent over the next two fiscals, the International Monetary Fund said in its latest World Economic Outlook update, which was released on January 17.

Data released earlier this month by the statistics ministry showed that the economy slowed to 6.4 percent from 8.2 percent in the previous fiscal as growth slumped in the second quarter.

India’s growth declined to a seven-quarter low of 5.4 percent in the September quarter, as manufacturing and investment growth slowed.

For the past few years, the Centre has been focussing on infrastructure spending to boost growth.

However, capital expenditure for the first eight months of FY25 contracted more than 12 percent to Rs 5.1 lakh crore, raising concerns about meeting the record budgeted target of Rs 11.11 lakh crore.

Government’s total spending grew 3.3 percent to Rs 27.4 trillion, the slowest pace in a decade.