What worries India Inc?

The answer is: Talent crunch and not high inflation rates?

India Inc's leading CFOs are optimistic that the economy will grow at a good pace over the next one year, and so will their companies, says a global survey of 665 CFOs from top companies, conducted by American Express (AmEx).

The survey showed that majority of Indian CFOs are most optimistic about growing their companies; they are OK with inflation or higher interest rates too, but talent crunch and competition from emerging economies could weigh on growth rate in the country, and this aspect they are more concerned about.

In number terms, 87% of finance officers in India expect modest or substantial economic expansion in the country in the coming 12 months. Even higher percentage, 93%, expect to see modest or substantial top-line growth at their companies during the same period.

A 3% of India-based CFOs expect modest or no economic contraction, the lowest among all the countries surveyed. 75% of Indian CFOs expect economic growth to pick up during the second or third quarter of 2011, a total of 83% expect growth to speed up by the end of the year.

To achieve their objectives in the next 12 months, Indian companies expect to invest more than they did in 2010 on developing new products and services; as well as increasing their investments in mergers and acquisitions. A sizeable portion of Indian India-based respondents also say they will focus on investing in revenue drivers such as operations and production (64%), sales (62%) and customer service (59%).

Obviously all the above will need fresh talent, regarding whose quality they are worried about. India INC. is sensing a dearth of well-qualified employees, followed by competition from emerging markets; hence calling this talent crunch as the biggest threats to achieving their corporate performance objectives.

How the Indian outlook compares with that of the US:

The global as well as the US average expecting a modest to substantial economic growth is 74%; while an 84% in Mexico, and 83% in Germany.

The survey further shared that over the next one year, 62% of the Indian CFOs plan to focus on their revenues while the balance 38% said they would go for profitability growth. Globally this was evenly divided. --------

What worries India Inc?

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