CEOs in India continue to be confident of their growth prospects, although their enthusiasm is muted in comparison with earlier years. According to the 17th Annual Global CEO Survey (India report), 49% CEOs continue to be confident of their growth prospects in the short term (12 months) and 70% very confident of revenue growth over the next three years.
However, interestingly, this time CEOs in a number of countries are more confident than CEOs in India about revenue growth for next year. These include CEOs from Korea, Taiwan, the Middle East, Russia and Africa.
It was observed that over-regulation is a common threat for Indian as well as global CEOs, while exchange rate volatility and the availability of key skills are concerns specific to India. Additionally, inadequate basic infrastructure has emerged as a top threat today, which it wasn’t 10 years ago.
CEOs believe that global trends will impact and shape their businesses even more in the long term. They have identified three mega trends, namely technological advances (79%), demographic shifts (71%) and shifts in global economic power (51%) that will drive business transformation. This is identical to the views of global CEOs.
Deepak Kapoor, Chairman PwC India network of entities said, “For CEOs in India, radical changes are underway. The interplay between the megatrends will yield opportunity as well as challenge. CEOs will have to harness technology in order to create value in totally new ways, capitalize on demographic shifts to develop tomorrow’s workforce, and understand how to serve increasingly demanding and diverse consumers across the new landscape.”
Some of the top cause for unease for the Indian CEO is inadequate infrastructure (82%), along with the long-term issues which have plagued us for years, over-regulation at 82% and fiscal deficit at 79% are as high as they have ever been. On the other hand, increased competition which was the biggest threat 10 years ago has dropped.
CEOs and organizations will have to find the right balance and alternate growth paths to address these needs.