The Business Expectations Survey (BIES) for February 2023, carried out byProf Abhiman DasofIIM Ahmedabad(IIM-A), found that profit margins and sales had reduced compared to January.
For inflation expectations, CPI headline inflation was marginally higher at 4.94% against 4.91% in December 2022.
Around 40% of the participating companies perceive a significant (over 6%) cost increase, from 40% reported in the earlier round. Over 30% of companies in this round of the survey reported much less than normal sales, sharply up from 24% in January 2023. More than 35% of participating companies in February 2023 perceive profit margins to be much less than normal up from 28% in January 2023.
The BIES provides ways to examine the amount of slack in the economy by polling a panel of business leaders about their inflation expectations in the short and medium term.