India Inc's confidence dipped to a new low in January as the economy slowed down under the impact of the global financial meltdown, economic think-tank NCAER said in its quarterly review.

The Business Confidence Index formulated by NCAER stood at a seven-year low of 91.4 points in January 2009, plummeting 41 per cent compared to a year ago period. On a quarterly basis, the index lost 24 per cent compared to October 2008.

'This (BCI) is the lowest since January 2002,' the National Council of Applied Economic Research said in its quarterly review of the business expectations survey. It said the slowdown in the markets appears to be a leading factor in influencing the fall in business expectations.

On a sectoral basis, the decline in the BCI was the highest for intermediate goods (-41.6 per cent) followed by capital goods (-19.7 per cent); consumer non-durables (-13.8 per cent) and consumer durables (-1.4 per cent), while the service sector contracted by 8.1 per cent.

The BCI is based on four factors -- the overall economic conditions over the next six months, expectations on the firm's financial position in the next six months, the investment climate of the economy and the current level of capacity utilisation of the firm.