Indian companies about to increase spending and investment in 2017, according to American Express

Driven by positive economic sentiment, more than half (77%) of senior finance executives of Indian companies surveyed expect moderate to substantial economic expansion in 2017, according to the Survey, by American Express and conducted by Institutional Investor Custom Research Lab, states that Indian companies are expected to increase their spending and investment in the market place with 67% of Indian companies looking at focusing on spending and investment to support top-line growth while improving profitability this year.

The survey further revealed that about 37% Indian finance executives expect their company’s level of spending and investment to increase by over 10% as compared to only 24% global executives, pointing towards Indian executives’ better preparedness at increasing their spending and investment as compared to their global counterparts.

IT-spending priority for the year

Indian executives are twice as likely to cite hardware and infrastructure as their top IT priority, compared with their global counterparts. According to 30% of executives from India, compared to 13% global and 14% executives in Asia and Australia, hardware and infrastructure will be top most priority for companies. This clearly indicates that companies are realizing the need and importance of digitization and therefore making a conscious effort in this direction. Another 10% of Indian executives want to concentrate on business intelligence and data analysis capabilities.

Exports to become much more important for the growth of companies

According to nearly half (47%) of the Indian executives surveyed, exports are expected to become important for their company’s growth in 2017. With the consistent growth of business in the domestic market, companies want to gradually secure their business in the foreign market as well and invest more in exports.


India Inc. to focus on enhancing customer service

The survey revealed that according to 67% financial executives from India, pressure on their company to compete on the quality of its customer service has increased substantially. India leads when compared to the responses gathered from global (50%) and Asia and Australia (44%) markets for the same parameter. Clearly, Indian companies are concentrating on enhancing customer services. According to 40% executives from India, in comparison to 18% globally and 22% in Asia and Australia, dedicated relationship management is companies’ most valued attribution for its vendors and suppliers.


Companies to focus on ways to manage cash and working capital effectively

A significant 60% of Indian executives feel that improving cash and working capital management (including payables, receivables, and inventories) will be more important for their company this year, compared to last year. Globally and in Asia and Australia, only 38% each say the same. The survey highlights that 61% of Indian respondents, in comparison with 46% global and 43% executives in Asia and Australia will make greater use of non-secured short-term financing (eg: overdraft, credit card) to manage their cash and working capital more effectively.