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Indian businesses saw spending grow three times faster than the expectations from its comparable peers in the other countries, establishing a lead that is likely to only consolidate, a new joint report from American Express (AmEx)-India and Invest India has revealed.
This report titled — India Business Spend Indicator (IBSI) — highlighted that India spending is on the rise across nine key B2B categories. The top business spendings categories where B2B spendings have been made include taxes and licensing; travel, entertainment and expenses; people and workforce.
Total B2B spend for India grew by 9.4 per cent in Q3 2021 on a year-on-year basis and is expected to rise by 10.3 per cent in 2022, according to the report. For the report, AmEx India asked over 500 financial decision makers in India how their businesses’ spending habits are changing.
It is similar to the Global Business Spend Indicator (GBSI) report, which was conducted in six other countries – Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, the UK and the US, enabling cross country comparisons of the prevailing business climate and sentiments in different geographies.
‘Bullishness and greater confidence’
The India report indicates bullishness and greater confidence with 74 per cent of businesses expecting to spend more on technology and 72 per cent planning to make more capital investments in 2022.
It also revealed other trends like 59 per cent of B2B sellers consider the main benefit of digital payments to be the speed of payment and ability to track spending. About 83 percent of eligible respondents said that the government’s ‘Make in India’ campaign has helped their business.
About 59 per cent of large, 57 per cent of small, 53 per cent of medium and 42 per cent of micro-scale companies that planned on increasing technology spend in Q4 2021 are doing so to improve productivity.
Manoj Adlakha, SVP and CEO, American Express Banking Corp, India, said, “India saw the highest B2B spending growth compared to expectations of six other major economies. This year, the total B2B spend for India is expected to rise by 10.3 percent compared to 2021.”
New trends likely to stay
This shows that the Indian economy is very much in its bounce-back phase from the economic difficulties caused by the pandemic crisis. The survey also reveals that some of the trends that have emerged or accelerated during the pandemic such as payments automation and new approaches to managing the supply chains are “likely to stay”.
Deepak Bagla, MD and CEO, Invest India, said, “This report by American Express and Invest India attempts to facilitate understanding of the present state of B2B payments in the country and bring out businesses’ positive response to major government policies.”
The report also highlights some interesting insights such as spends made by Indian businesses, role played by technology and automation to drive Indian businesses, prioritisation of digital payments and government initiatives leading to growth of Indian businesses.
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