Biz confidence in decline: D&B

Chief financial officers fret over lower pace of reforms

A survey by Dun & Bradstreet, the world’s leading provider of global business information, has revealed that the level of optimism about business environment among chief financial officers (CFOs) in India has declined of late largely due to slower pace of country’s reforms than initially expected.

The pan India survey of corporate CFOs asked them about their confidence in the overall financial and macro-economic conditions for the April-June period of 2015 as compared with the same quarter of the previous year.

The CFO Optimism Index registered a decline for the third consecutive quarter during the second quarter of 2015, but remained high on a year-on-year basis.
While the optimism levels of both the services and industrial sector moderated during April-June, the optimism level of the services sector moderated strongly than the industrial sector, the survey said.

A majority of CFOs expected the level of financial risks on the company’s balance sheet and risk appetite to remain unchanged during April-June quarter of 2015.

“Slower pace of reforms than initially expected, weak profit level of corporates, non-revival in the demand conditions, policy logjam in the Upper House, coupled with a tepid global recovery have led to weak sentiment among CFOs,” it said.

While CFOs remain optimistic regarding both the domestic (75 per cent) and global (52 per cent) macroeconomic scenario, the optimism regarding the domestic economic scenario during April-June 2015 remained subdued compared with the last three quarters.