What are the major concerns of India Inc CFOs going into 2023?

In interactions with ETCFO over the last few days, leading CFOs across the spectrum spoke about their concerns going ahead.

ETCFO Research
  • Updated On Jan 23, 2023 at 08:42 AM IST
Read by: 100 Industry Professionals
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Inflation and growth slowdown seem to be the biggest worries for India Inc CFOs as they head into the New Year.

In interactions with ETCFO over the last few days, CFOs across the spectrum spoke about their concerns going ahead.

Anand Agarwal, CFO, V-Mart, said the downward revision in the FY23 GDP growth forecast is a worrying sign. "It indicates that there is underlying stress in the rural economy. Rural spending has not just picked up and consumption, therefore, remains rather subdued," he told ETCFO.

Alok Garodia, CFO, Prime Venture Partners, said the slide in the Q2 GDP growth rate showed some weakness in manufacturing amid global supply-side disruptions. Services, however, expanded and gained further momentum as pandemic restrictions went away completely. This was reflected in the growth in industries like hospitality and airlines etc.

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Sameer Aggarwal, Group CFO, Manipal Hospitals, said the Q2 GDP numbers show that the service was one of the major drivers of growth but the lag effect has come through manufacturing. If one sees the services, healthcare has been doing well as travel restrictions have come out domestically and internationally.

Inflation a bugbear

"Having said that inflation is still a concern and global recessionary pressures can spoil Capex plans due to a spike in interest costs," he said.

Ashish Jain, CFO, KRBL, said a slowdown is happening in some parts of manufacturing, however, it is still not materially visible in the services, especially the ones which are customer-facing sectors. "In respect of future growth, it seems clear that international demand is going to play per its own rhythm amid elevated inflation and the continued Ukraine-Russia conflict," he said.

Rohit Anand, Tech M CFO, said the global macroeconomic situation is looking a little bit tougher as compared to a quarter before. "In Europe, if one sees it, the war continues and because of that the energy issue has got intensified. The shutdown of plants is a possible risk as we move into the next few months. Hence, the recession has a different impact on Europe than the US where the inflation is more broad-based and not dependent on the increase in energy pricing. Also, the unemployment rate in the US is the lowest. So, we are still a few quarters away from possible serious economic implications than say Europe and the UK."
  • Published On Jan 23, 2023 at 08:42 AM IST
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