Notwithstanding growth in manufacturing in the last few months, the manufacturing sector is expected to witness subdued investments, at least for a few months more, according to the latest Ficci Quarterly Manufacturing Survey.
The survey noted that only 25 per cent of the respondents reported any plans for new investments over the next six months. The survey assessed various parameters of manufacturers for the (April – June) period in the current financial year for thirteen major sectors namely textiles, capital goods, metals, chemicals, cement and ceramics, electronics, auto, leather and footwear, machine tools, food, tyre, paper and textiles machinery.
Responses were drawn from 386 manufacturing units from both large and SME segments with a combined annual turnover of over Rs 4 lakh crore.
The export outlook for manufacturing has weakened in in the first quarter too, according to the survey.
In the previous survey, the outlook on the export front remained positive and seemed to have improved somewhat in the last quarter (Januray-March) of the previous financial year.
The survey noted that the weak export outlook was weighing heavily on the manufacturing sector.
As much as 75 per cent respondents said they did not have any plans for capacity addition for the next six months, as against 73 per cent in January-March quarter.
The interest rate paid by the manufacturers ranged from 8.75 per cent to 14.5 per cent, as per the survey, with an average interest rate at around 12.11 per cent per annum.
Inventory levels indicated some improvement from the last quarter, as currently, around 29 per cent respondents reported that they were carrying more than their average inventory levels, as compared with 33 per cent respondents in January-March.
Published 06 September 2015, 19:11 IST