NCAER’s Business Confidence Index

The Business Confidence Index (BCI) was recently published by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER).

Highlights

• The index has rose 29.6 per cent between second and third quarter of the financial year 2020-2021.
• It has rose in the backdrop of the COVID-19 vaccination drive in several countries including India.
• The respondents also expects that the ‘overall economic conditions will improve in the next six months.
• They expect that it will be increased by 4.8 percentage points in the quarter three of the financial year 2020-2021. That is, from 29.8 per cent in the year quarter two of 2020-2021 34.6 per cent in Q3.
• They also expect that the ‘financial position of firms will improve in the next six months’. There is an expectation that it will be increased by 3.1 percentage points in the quarter 3 of 2020-2021.

About BES findings

The BES findings are based on the responses of 500 firms. The reports are based on the 115th round of BES which was carried out in December 2020. The findings further highlight that,

1. Though covid-19 vaccine were rolled out in Europe and North America. But it was accompanied by the discovery of new mutations of the coronavirus.
2. In Indian, approval of Covishield and Covaxin vaccines for restricted use was given on January 3, 2021.
3. Indian economy is following the recovery path and will show a positive growth in the quarter 3.
4. In India, the business sentiments have also shown the V-shaped pattern of recovery.
5. The report further states that, the fiscal stimulus under Aatmanirbhar 2.0 and 3.0 schemes will accelerate the public investment. However, the private investment will remain sluggish because of low-capacity utilisation.

National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER)

NCAER is a New Delhi based non-profit economic think tank. The NCAER do research in the field of economics. It was established in the year 1956. Currently, Nandan Nilekani is president of the governing body. The director general of the think tank is Dr Shekhar Shah.

Month: Current Affairs - February, 2021