An overwhelming majority of Indian CEOs believe in the growth of the Indian economy this year, according to a PwC survey of CEOs, “CEOs are more upbeat about their company’s growth than they were last year. India leaders’ optimism about their own territory’s economic growth has seen a nearly 30% increase compared to 2023, with a staggering 86% agreeing that the Indian economy would improve”, the PwC survey said.
About 7 out of 10 India CEOs are very confident about their company’s prospects for revenue growth over the next three years.
When asked how confident they were about their company’s growth over the next 12 months, 62% of India CEOs said they were ‘extremely or very confident’, as against 37% of global CEOs.
About 70% of India CEOs – as against 49% of global CEOs – said they were confident of their company’s prospects for revenue growth over the next three years.
While most India CEOs are confident about the future, a sizeable section is concerned about the need to embrace change to keep pace with future trends. While 59% of India CEOs – as against 53% of global CEOs – said their companies would remain economically viable for more than 10 years if they continued on their current trajectory, 38% said their companies would remain economically viable for less than 10 years in this scenario.
Hiring prospects
In 2023, India CEOs were concerned about reducing workforces. While 19% had then said they were implementing hiring freezes, 16% said they were reducing the size of their workforce. This year, 57% of India CEOs said they were likely to consider an increase in headcount by 5% or more over the next 12 months, along with an increase in prices of products or services.
For India CEOs, the customer is central and 61% said customer references had led to changes in how their companies created, delivered and captured value in the last five years. India CEOs felt technological change (57%) and government regulations (47%) were also prominent triggers of change.
India CEOs saw inflation and cyber risks as the biggest threats to their businesses in the short term (12-month period).
India CEOs believe cyber and health risks along with inflation are the three key threats in the next 12 months, resulting in greater impetus to reinvent.
About 28% of India CEOs expect extreme/high exposure to cyber risk, compared to 18% last year. The findings echo the results of PwC’s Global Risk Survey 2023, in which cyber was ranked second to inflation on the threat list.
Climate change issues
India CEOs’ responses on climate change issues in the 2024 survey show a keen awareness of the urgency to speed up climate action, but they recognise that it is still work in progress.
While just 8% said they had completed projects to improve energy efficiency and reduce consumption, 82% said it was in progress, and only 4% said they had no plans.
India CEOs reported progress on decarbonisation, climate adaptation, reskilling the workforce and investments in nature-based climate solutions. But they also said lack of climate-friendly technologies (49%), lack of demand from external stakeholders (44%) and lower returns on climate-friendly investments (48%) were inhibiting Indian companies’ ability to decarbonise to a moderate and large/very large extent.
Regulatory complexity (50%), lack of climate friendly technologies (49%), lack of demand from external stakeholders (44%) and lower returns for climate-friendly investments (48%) are inhibiting India companies’ ability to decarbonise, the survey said.
