RBI to have new round of industry surveys

MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank will conduct a new round of surveys to gauge the mood of the industry on growth prospects, amid expectations that the Indian economy is poised to clock 9% growth this fiscal. RBI will carry out two surveys — on industrial outlook and on capacity utilisation by the manufacturing sector. It has mandated two institutions — Delhi-based Centre for Research Planning and Action ( CRPA) and Mumbai-based Centre for Monitoring India Economy (CMIE) — for the task. In its mid-term economic review released in December 2010, the government revised upwards its growth forecast for the economy this fiscal to 8.75%, plus or minus 0.35%, against the earlier estimate of 8.5%.

The economy has grown by 8.9% during the first half of this fiscal, above the government’s expectations. While CRPA will conduct the Quarterly Industrial Outlook Survey for January-March 2011, CMIE will be responsible for the order books, inventories and capacity utilisation survey, which will have October–December 2010 as the reference period. “The RBI has launched the 53rd round of the Industrial Outlook Survey (IOS) for reference period January–March 2011... CRPA has been mandated to conduct the survey for this quarter on behalf of the RBI,” the central bank said.

Launched in 1998, the IOS intends to gain insight into the perception of the public and private limited companies engaged in manufacturing, about their own performance and prospects. It will cover non-financial private and public limited companies and take into account parameters like overall business and financial situations, demand indicators, price and employment expectations and profit margins.