New Delhi, Aug. 24: Corporate India expects growth trends to continue, according to a quarterly business confidence survey released by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. The business confidence index for the first quarter of the current fiscal has gone up to 73.5 from 71.6 in the last quarter of 2004-05.

“Industry is looking at a strong demand despite being worried about the rising input costs,” Ficci secretary-general Amit Mitra said. “They are responding to the increasing input costs by capitalising on economies of scale and enhancing efficiency to sustain its margins,” he added.

The index, which shows the expectations of India Inc, comprises the current conditions index (CCI) and the expectations index (EI).

The CCI, which shows the sentiment of the industry towards present economic conditions, moved up to 70.9 from 67.5 in the fourth quarter of 2004-05. Similarly, the EI on the next six months was up from 71.6 in the last round to 73.5.

The survey was conducted on 478 companies having a turnover between Rs 1 crore and Rs 60,000 crore in the heavy and light industry and services sectors.

Seventy-seven per cent of the respondents rated the present state of the economy as “moderately to substantially” better compared with the conditions of the past six months. While 20 per cent of the companies feel that there has been no perceptible change on the overall macro front, only 3 per cent rated the present condition as “moderately to substantially” worse when compared with that of the last two quarters.

The survey, however, said the employment index (of companies planning fresh hiring) was down to 21 in the first quarter this fiscal from 23 in fourth quarter of last fiscal.

As many as 63 per cent of the respondents have no plans for fresh hiring in the months ahead with only 29 per cent intending to add to their present employee headcount.

The overall performance outlook is also positive. About 64 per cent of the companies are upbeat about the current performance of their sectors and rate them as “moderately to substantially” better than the performance in the past six months.