Business confidence recovering but concerns remain: CII

New Delhi, April 29 (IANS) Most Indian firms have recovered business confidence, but stagnancy in reforms, high interest rates and increased raw material costs still remain top concerns, according to a survey by industry lobby, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

The survey found the business confidence index for the fourth quarter of 2011-12 stood at the value of 52.9 against 48.8 during the previous quarter. The same stood at 66.7 during the fourth quarter of 2010-11.

"Although the index value is showing a moderate recovery for the past two quarters, it remains at a depressed level and far below the levels achieved in the previous year," said CII director general Chandrajit Banerjee.

"The implementation of a few key reforms in the areas of indirect taxation, pricing of administered products and increasing FDI limits would go a long way in raising business confidence and improving the growth outlook for the economy," he added.

The survey, based a sample size of 200 companies, said that 41.8 percent respondents expected the gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate in 2012-13 to be in the range of 7-7.5 percent, while 31.8 percent expected it to be higher than 7.5 percent.

While average inflation stood at 8.8 percent in 2011-12, it said 24.7 percent of the respondents expected it to be in the range of 7-8 percent in 2012-13 and 24.1 percent expected it be above 9 percent.

The survey revealed that 47.2 percent of the respondents expected domestic investments to increase during the April-June 2012, while 39.1 percent expected it to remain stagnant.