Why finance leaders are upbeat about India's growth

Indian finance leaders are most optimistic about economic growth and remain aggressive in planning investment and spending, a study -- Global Business and Spending Monitor 2015 -- by American Express, in partnership with CFO Research, showed.

“The economic outlook in India remains the strongest in the world at 94 per cent compared to United States (83 per cent), United Kingdom (74 per cent), Mexico (73 per cent), Singapore (70 per cent), Australia (60 per cent) and France (29 per cent).

"India remains the most aggressive in planning increase in investment and spending at 38 per cent. . .India stands highest in capitalising on expected economic growth with 85 per cent Indian finance leaders reporting higher revenues than a year ago,” the study said.

The Global Business and Spending Monitor is released annually by American Expres in partnership with CFO Research.

The latest survey is based on a sampling of 565 senior finance and corporate executives from large companies around the world. The survey responses were collected online in December.

The respondents presented their view of the year 2014 and their expectations from 2015.

The survey found that India's finance leaders were twice as bullish as their global peers to boost top-line revenues by spending and investing aggressively.

India also led the way in terms of improving production efficiency and business intelligence and analytics with 45 per cent of respondents planning increased investment.

“Of the Indian finance leaders polled, 94 per cent look at increasing their spending and investment to drive their top-line. . .81 per cent of Indian finance leaders say that fresh spending and investments would help their companies enter new markets.

“Three out of every four finance leaders felt that it could help in acquisitions or new business partnerships,” the study said.

A majority of Indian respondents (72 per cent) also believed that fresh investments would help them in maintaining their market share and improve the returns for shareholders. Many of them also felt it could help them in better serving their customer needs.

Finance leaders from across the globe also emphasised on the need to leverage information technology solutions, with emphasis on cloud computing solutions, in serving customers and adding value to their businesses.

Indian finance leaders resonated this belief with 44 per cent of them saying that spending on cloud computing will form a critical component of their increased spending on technology apart from enterprise level IT systems (41 per cent) and business intelligence and data analysis capabilities (34 per cent).

“A move to 'mobile first' mindset is also evident among the Indian financial minds. Nearly 69 per cent of respondents from India say that the use of mobile technologies can significantly enhance customer service.

“Fifty per cent of them believe that such an investment would have a positive impact on sales,” the study said.

Image: A stock trader reacts; Photograph: Reuters