MUMBAI, June 24 (Xinhua) -- India's manufacturing sector outlook for April-June is seen moderate as sentiment remained subdued due to slowdown in order book, as per a survey released late Sunday by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
As a result, hiring outlook for the sector shows a bleak picture as 65 percent of the respondents indicated that they are unlikely to hire additional workforce in the next three months, though it has improved from 70 percent indicated in the preceding quarter.
Respondents reporting higher output growth during April-June have fallen to 41 percent from 54 percent in the previous quarter, as per the quarterly survey drawn from 300 manufacturing units having a combined turnover of 50 billion U.S. dollars.
Production is seen impacted as 59 percent of the respondents expect output to be low or at the same level during the quarter under review compared to 46 percent in the preceding quarter of January-March.
High raw material prices, high cost of finance, uncertainty of demand, shortage of skilled labor, high imports, requirement of technology upgradation, low domestic and global demand, excess capacities, delay in disbursements of state and central subsidies were the concerns raised by the respondents in the survey.
In terms of order book, 36 percent of the respondents see higher number of orders against 44 percent in the preceding quarter.
In terms of capacity utilization, FICCI survey said that the overall capacity utilization in manufacturing has witnessed a slight fall to 78 percent in April-June as compared to 80 percent in the previous quarter.
