Stimulus rollback fears hurting biz confidence: FICCI

NEW DELHI: Anxious about the fiscal stimulus being withdrawn, India Inc is "awaiting with bated breath" presentation of the Union Budget by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on February 26.

The anxiety level in the industry, according to a survey by industry chamber FICCI, is high enough to have affected its Business Confidence Index.

The industry confidence level, which "had been improving in the last three quarters, has reached a pause," FICCI said. Although demand situation in the economy is improving, there "is now an air of uncertainty of what would happen in the near term," it said.

With the annual industrial growth reaching 16.8 per cent in December-- a 16-year high-- there are enough indications about the beginning of the withdrawal of the stimulus package, which was given last fiscal by way of excise duty and service tax cuts. The government should initiate consolidation measures in the forthcoming Budget as the current level of fiscal and revenue deficits are unsustainable, the Prime Minister''s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) said yesterday in its economic outlook for the current financial year.

Despite growing factory output and exports returning to expansion mode, the industry has been lobbying hard with the government to continue with the reduced excise duty of eight per cent and service tax of 10 per cent.