India's massive digital infrastructure in areas like banking, healthcare and education makes the country well-poised to capitalise on artificial intelligence (AI), PwC chairperson Bob Moritz told Moneycontrol on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.
“India prepared previously for the digital revolution and that's going to help it take a next leap forward with AI. The reality is the country actually has put in a tremendous amount of infrastructure, when you think about the banking system, the financial services system, the health care system, and yes, even the education system,” he said.
“That's starting to come through right now and solidifies the foundation whereas other countries are not as fit for purpose as where India is right now. AI is really good in terms of speed and scale. And if you think about the scale, you have India. It will be very much additive… which I think solidifies the confidence level that we have for India as a country,” he added.
Moritz said that while CEOs all over the world are worried about what will be the outcomes of a string of national elections this year, they are not concerned as much about India as the country’s momentum is set to carry on irrespective of who wins.
CEO sentiment improves
The proportion of CEOs who believe global economic growth will improve over the next 12 months has more than doubled since last year, the annual PwC Global CEO Survey showed.
The survey, which interviewed over 4,700 CEOs across 105 countries and territories, found that 38 percent of CEOs are optimistic about global economic growth prospects in the next one year, up from 18 percent in 2023.
“CEOs are more optimistic than they were last year. Let's remember that last year, you had rising interest rates globally, inflationary pressures, the great resignation, geopolitical risks. Those factors are a little more certain today that gives people confidence in the macroeconomic environment,” said Moritz.
However, the element of surprise in the survey’s results was that Indian CEOs are much more confident about the next 12 months than their global counterparts.
“If you look at the next 12 months, 86 percent of Indian CEOs believe that they will do better. And if you look at over a three year period, 94 percent of them believe that they will continue to grow revenues. It is a bit paradoxical because, globally, most CEOs believe that their own businesses will grow slower, but Indian respondents believe that their businesses will grow faster,” said Sanjeev Krishnan, chairperson of PwC India.
“And it's not just services growth. The whole focus on manufacturing is playing out. I think the growth that we are seeing across sectors is more equal than it has ever been before,” he added.
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