Growth momentum continues, employment outlook improving: FICCI on manufacturing sector
India Today
According to a FICCI survey, the manufacturing sector is growing and the employment outlook is also improving. Here are the key findings.
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry's (FICCI) latest quarterly survey on the manufacturing sector has revealed that after experiencing a revival in the first three quarters of 2021-22, momentum of growth continued in subsequent quarters of Q4 (Jan-Mar 2021-22) and Q1 April-June (2022-23) and there seems to be an improvement in hiring/employment outlook after a long gap.
The survey noted that 54.8% of respondents reported higher production levels in Q1 with an average expectation of increase in production by over 10%. This is slightly more than the percentage of respondents experiencing higher growth in Q1 of last year.
Also, the FICCI survey observed that there seems to be an improvement in employment creation by the sector as compared to the previous quarter (Q3 of 2021-22), where only 25% of the respondents were looking at hiring in the next few months. This percentage has improved significantly to 53% of the respondents in Q1, who are now looking at hiring additional workforce in the next three months.
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This assessment is also reflective in order books as 55% of the respondents in Q1 are expecting a higher number of orders, the survey noted.
FICCI’s latest survey assessed the sentiments of manufacturers for Q1 for twelve major sectors namely automotive, capital goods, cement, chemicals, fertilizers and pharmaceuticals, footwear, machine tools, metal and metal products, paper products, textiles, toys, tyre and miscellaneous. Responses have been drawn from over 300 manufacturing units from both large and SME segments with a combined annual turnover of over 3 lakh crores.
The existing average capacity utilization for Q4 in manufacturing is 77%, a little higher than 75% in the previous quarter, which reflects increased economic activity in the sector. The future investment outlook also improved as compared to previous quarters but remains that of cautious optimism, as 40% of respondents reported plans for capacity additions in the next six months, up by 14% on average.
