The CII Business Confidence Index (CII-BCI) recovered moderately in the first quarter of 2012-13 at 55.0, but remained below its level in the same quarter last year at 62.5.
The 79th Business Outlook Survey, based on a sample size of 200 companies, showed 41.8 per cent respondents expecting GDP growth rate in 2012-13 in the range of 7.0-7.5 per cent.
The majority (47.2 per cent) expected a rise in domestic investments during April-June 2012.
capacity utilisation
In a sign of improving capacity utilisation, 58.7 per cent of the respondents expected capacity utilisation to be above 75 per cent in the first quarter of 2012-13.
Increase in sales
According to the survey, there was an increase in overall sales, new orders and pre-tax profits in the last quarter of 2011-12.
These indicators are expected to continue rising in the first quarter of 2012-13.
Major worry
Rising input costs such as fuel and wage continue to be a major worry for firms.
For the quarter ending June 2012, a majority of firms expect input cost to rise, while the cost of credit is expected to either decline or remain unchanged.