Services and Infrastructure Outlook Survey for Q3:2024-25

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ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼ਿਤ ਤਾਰੀਖ ਫ਼ਰਵਰੀ 07, 2025

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Services and Infrastructure Outlook Survey for Q3:2024-25

Today, the Reserve Bank released the results of 43rd round of its quarterly Services and Infrastructure Outlook Survey (SIOS) conducted during Q3:2024-25. This forward-looking survey¹ captures qualitative assessment and expectations of Indian companies engaged in the services and infrastructure sectors on a set of business parameters relating to demand conditions, price situation and other business conditions. In the latest round of the survey², 965 companies provided their assessment for Q3:2024-25 and expectations for Q4:2024-25 as well as outlook on key parameters for the subsequent two quarters.

Highlights:

A. Services Sector

Assessment for Q3:2024-25

Firms assessed improvement in overall business situation, employment conditions and their turnover during Q3:2024-25 (Chart 1 and Table A).
Pressures from input costs, salary outgo and cost of finance are gauged to have risen during the quarter.
Services firms reflected better pricing power, as measured in terms of selling prices and profit margins.

Expectations for Q4:2024-25

Outlook on demand condition in the services sector remains very positive with further improvements expected in overall business situation, turnover and job landscape (Chart 1 and Table A).
Responding firms expect cost pressures to increase; they also polled for higher growth in selling prices and profit margins.

Expectations for Q1:2025-26 and Q2:2025-26

Respondents remain optimistic on business conditions in the services sector during H1:2025-26. (Table C).
Input cost pressures are likely to persist, and selling prices are expected to rise in consonance.

Chart 1: Turnover of Services Companies - Net Response

Respondents reported that with their existing resources they could have provided 10.6 per cent additional services during Q2:2024-25 (Table S14).

B. Infrastructure Sector

Assessment for Q3:2024-25

Respondents assessed improvement on overall business situation, turnover and employment, both full-time and part-time (Chart 2 and Table B).
Cost pressures in infrastructure sector are weighed to have risen with associated rise in selling prices and profit margins vis-à-vis the previous quarter.

Expectations for Q4:2024-25

Optimism of infrastructure companies on overall business situation and turnover stood a tad lower from that in the previous quarter (Chart 2 and Table B).
Responding firms expect improvement in employment conditions.
Cost pressures are expected to continue in Q4:2024-25, but associated rise in selling prices supports optimism on profit margins.

Expectations for Q1:2025-26 and Q2:2025-26

Infrastructure companies remain optimistic on demand conditions till Q2:2025-26 (Table D).
Majority of respondents expect further rise in input cost pressures and concomitant rise in selling prices during H1:2025-26.

Chart 2: Turnover of Infrastructure Companies - Net Response

Summary of Net Responses³ on Survey Parameters

Table A: Services Sector
(per cent)
Parameters	Assessment period		Expectations period
Parameters	Q2:24-25	Q3:24-25	Q3:24-25	Q4:24-25
Overall Business Situation	30.2	33.9	68.0	69.2
Turnover	30.7	33.5	68.9	71.6
Full-time Employees	20.1	27.8	44.0	52.6
Part-time Employees	13.9	23.8	52.1	56.8
Availability of Finance	19.8	28.3	50.1	56.6
Cost of Finance	-32.3	-35.4	-54.3	-59.2
Salary & Wages	-25.8	-30.4	-44.5	-55.1
Cost of Inputs	-40.6	-42.7	-64.2	-68.9
Selling Price	12.1	22.2	48.0	55.6
Profit Margin	4.2	15.0	38.4	48.9
Inventories	18.4	24.3	46.6	53.6
Technical/Service Capacity	18.5	29.0	58.3	63.6
Physical Investment	16.1	26.8	56.7	60.6

Table B: Infrastructure Sector
(per cent)
Parameters	Assessment period		Expectations period
Parameters	Q2:24-25	Q3:24-25	Q3:24-25	Q4:24-25
Overall Business Situation	21.7	27.6	67.4	66.9
Turnover	25.4	30.7	71.0	69.5
Full-time Employees	18.1	22.0	39.3	45.3
Part-time Employees	9.7	22.2	48.9	58.0
Availability of Finance	18.2	26.2	54.4	59.2
Cost of Finance	-26.6	-27.0	-60.3	-58.2
Salary & Wages	-26.8	-31.0	-43.1	-47.6
Cost of Inputs	-40.8	-41.6	-70.8	-70.4
Selling Price	10.9	17.1	50.0	56.4
Profit Margin	5.8	11.2	40.6	50.4
Inventories	20.5	28.0	56.4	60.7
Technical/Service Capacity	19.1	27.8	72.5	67.5
Physical Investment	25.7	26.7	75.3	71.1

Expectations of Select Parameters for extended period – Net response
(in per cent)
Table C: Services Sector
Parameter	Round 42	Round 43
Parameter	Q3:24-25	Q4:24-25	Q1:25-26	Q2:25-26
Overall Business Situation	68.0	69.2	71.9	73.0
Turnover	68.9	71.6	73.0	73.2
Full-time Employees	44.0	52.6	57.0	56.7
Part-time Employees	52.1	56.8	58.1	57.8
Cost of Inputs	-64.2	-68.9	-64.7	-64.9
Selling Price	48.0	55.6	56.1	57.2

Table D: Infrastructure Sector
Parameter	Round 42	Round 43
Parameter	Q3:24-25	Q4:24-25	Q1:25-26	Q2:25-26
Overall Business Situation	67.4	66.9	68.3	68.0
Turnover	71.0	69.5	72.4	72.1
Full-time Employees	39.3	45.3	54.8	54.4
Part-time Employees	48.9	58.0	64.8	64.8
Cost of Inputs	-70.8	-70.4	-66.7	-64.2
Selling Price	50.0	56.4	60.7	61.7

Note: Please see the excel file for time series data

Services Sector

Table S1: Assessment and Expectation for Overall Business Situation
(Percentage responses)@
Quarter	Assessment				Expectation
Quarter	Better	No Change	Worse	Net response#	Better	No Change	Worse	Net response
Q3:23-24	47.6	40.4	12.0	35.6	51.0	41.2	7.8	43.1
Q4:23-24	48.9	39.8	11.4	37.5	59.4	36.0	4.6	54.8
Q1:24-25	43.0	48.1	8.9	34.1	68.5	28.4	3.1	65.3
Q2:24-25	41.9	46.4	11.7	30.2	71.5	26.5	2.0	69.4
Q3:24-25	42.8	48.3	8.9	33.9	70.1	27.8	2.1	68.0
Q4:24-25					71.4	26.4	2.2	69.2
‘Increase’ in Overall business situation is optimistic. @: Due to rounding off percentage may not add up to 100. #: Net Response (NR) is the difference of percentage of the respondents reporting optimism and that reporting pessimism. The range is -100 to 100. Any value greater than zero indicates expansion/ optimism and any value less than zero indicates contraction/ pessimism.

Table S2: Assessment and Expectation for Turnover
(Percentage responses)
Quarter	Assessment				Expectation
Quarter	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response
Q3:23-24	48.2	35.9	15.9	32.3	40.3	49.9	9.8	30.5
Q4:23-24	51.6	34.3	14.0	37.6	59.8	33.8	6.4	53.4
Q1:24-25	45.2	43.1	11.7	33.5	70.5	23.6	5.9	64.6
Q2:24-25	43.6	43.5	12.9	30.7	71.9	24.8	3.3	68.7
Q3:24-25	44.8	44.0	11.2	33.5	71.9	25.2	3.0	68.9
Q4:24-25					74.1	23.3	2.6	71.6
‘Increase’ in Turnover is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table S1 are applicable here.

Table S3: Assessment and Expectation for Full-time Employees
(Percentage responses)
Quarter	Assessment				Expectation
Quarter	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response
Q3:23-24	29.9	61.6	8.5	21.4	26.4	63.7	9.9	16.5
Q4:23-24	33.9	57.1	9.0	24.8	32.4	64.0	3.6	28.8
Q1:24-25	34.8	58.2	7.0	27.8	48.4	49.5	2.1	46.3
Q2:24-25	29.0	62.0	9.0	20.1	52.2	46.0	1.7	50.5
Q3:24-25	34.5	58.7	6.8	27.8	45.8	52.4	1.8	44.0
Q4:24-25					54.3	44.0	1.7	52.6
‘Increase’ in Full-time Employees is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table S1 are applicable here.

Table S4: Assessment and Expectation for Part-time Employees
(Percentage responses)
Quarter	Assessment				Expectation
Quarter	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response
Q3:23-24	21.5	70.3	8.2	13.2	31.0	52.3	16.7	14.4
Q4:23-24	30.2	62.4	7.5	22.7	28.8	65.4	5.8	23.1
Q1:24-25	28.9	65.0	6.1	22.7	50.8	46.7	2.5	48.3
Q2:24-25	22.2	69.6	8.3	13.9	55.4	42.1	2.5	52.9
Q3:24-25	29.7	64.4	5.9	23.8	54.1	43.8	2.1	52.1
Q4:24-25					59.0	38.9	2.2	56.8
‘Increase’ in Part-time Employees is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table S1 are applicable here.

Table S5: Assessment and Expectation for Availability of Finance
(Percentage responses)
Quarter	Assessment				Expectation
Quarter	Improve	No Change	Worsen	Net response	Improve	No Change	Worsen	Net response
Q3:23-24	32.3	60.3	7.4	24.9	31.5	61.1	7.3	24.2
Q4:23-24	36.3	55.3	8.4	27.8	40.4	56.7	2.9	37.4
Q1:24-25	37.9	56.2	5.9	32.0	56.4	42.5	1.1	55.3
Q2:24-25	28.5	62.8	8.7	19.8	58.8	40.0	1.2	57.6
Q3:24-25	34.7	58.9	6.4	28.3	51.4	47.2	1.4	50.1
Q4:24-25					58.0	40.6	1.4	56.6
‘Improve’ in Availability of Finance is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table S1 are applicable here.

Table S6: Assessment and Expectation for Cost of Finance
(Percentage responses)
Quarter	Assessment				Expectation
Quarter	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response
Q3:23-24	36.5	59.3	4.2	-32.3	32.8	61.0	6.2	-26.6
Q4:23-24	38.0	55.6	6.5	-31.5	38.1	58.2	3.7	-34.4
Q1:24-25	40.0	55.1	4.9	-35.1	51.0	43.5	5.5	-45.5
Q2:24-25	36.6	59.0	4.3	-32.3	59.4	38.0	2.6	-56.9
Q3:24-25	38.9	57.7	3.4	-35.4	55.9	42.5	1.6	-54.3
Q4:24-25					61.1	37.0	1.9	-59.2
‘Decrease’ in Cost of Finance is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table S1 are applicable here.

Table S7: Assessment and Expectation for Salary/Wages
(Percentage responses)
Quarter	Assessment				Expectation
Quarter	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response
Q3:23-24	42.4	53.5	4.0	-38.4	33.6	62.3	4.1	-29.5
Q4:23-24	34.8	60.7	4.5	-30.2	38.6	59.6	1.8	-36.8
Q1:24-25	45.3	52.0	2.7	-42.6	46.7	53.3	0.0	-46.7
Q2:24-25	29.9	66.0	4.1	-25.8	54.5	44.9	0.7	-53.8
Q3:24-25	33.5	63.5	3.0	-30.4	45.0	54.5	0.5	-44.5
Q4:24-25					55.7	43.7	0.6	-55.1
‘Decrease’ in Salary/Wages is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table S1 are applicable here.

Table S8: Assessment and Expectation for Cost of Inputs
(Percentage responses)
Quarter	Assessment				Expectation
Quarter	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response
Q3:23-24	44.6	48.6	6.8	-37.9	32.1	57.9	9.9	-22.2
Q4:23-24	46.7	49.3	4.0	-42.8	47.4	50.9	1.7	-45.7
Q1:24-25	47.5	49.6	2.9	-44.7	57.1	42.5	0.4	-56.7
Q2:24-25	44.4	51.8	3.8	-40.6	66.5	32.9	0.6	-65.9
Q3:24-25	46.2	50.4	3.4	-42.7	65.6	33.1	1.3	-64.2
Q4:24-25					69.4	30.1	0.5	-68.9
‘Decrease’ in Cost of Inputs is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table S1 are applicable here.

Table S9: Assessment and Expectation for Selling Price
(Percentage responses)
Quarter	Assessment				Expectation
Quarter	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response
Q3:23-24	24.3	66.6	9.2	15.1	26.4	61.5	12.1	14.2
Q4:23-24	29.9	62.6	7.5	22.4	35.3	60.0	4.7	30.7
Q1:24-25	26.9	67.9	5.2	21.7	52.4	46.0	1.6	50.8
Q2:24-25	20.5	71.1	8.4	12.1	55.5	43.2	1.4	54.1
Q3:24-25	29.0	64.1	6.9	22.2	50.4	47.3	2.3	48.0
Q4:24-25					57.9	39.8	2.3	55.6
‘Increase’ in Selling Price is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table S1 are applicable here.

Table S10: Assessment and Expectation for Profit Margin
(Percentage responses)
Quarter	Assessment				Expectation
Quarter	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response
Q3:23-24	27.1	55.5	17.4	9.7	27.3	59.2	13.5	13.8
Q4:23-24	29.6	57.0	13.3	16.3	36.1	55.2	8.6	27.5
Q1:24-25	26.5	57.5	16.0	10.5	50.6	45.1	4.2	46.4
Q2:24-25	21.0	62.1	16.8	4.2	49.6	46.3	4.2	45.4
Q3:24-25	28.4	58.2	13.4	15.0	42.3	53.7	3.9	38.4
Q4:24-25					52.6	43.7	3.7	48.9
‘Increase’ in Profit Margin is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table S1 are applicable here.

Table S11: Assessment and Expectation for Inventories
(Percentage responses)
Quarter	Assessment				Expectation
Quarter	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response
Q3:23-24	29.6	62.9	7.5	22.2	34.5	53.9	11.6	22.9
Q4:23-24	32.2	60.9	6.9	25.4	34.2	60.0	5.8	28.3
Q1:24-25	31.2	62.0	6.9	24.3	50.9	45.9	3.2	47.8
Q2:24-25	24.5	69.4	6.1	18.4	54.3	43.4	2.3	52.0
Q3:24-25	29.8	64.6	5.5	24.3	47.7	51.3	1.1	46.6
Q4:24-25					55.0	43.6	1.4	53.6
‘Increase’ in Inventories is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table S1 are applicable here.

Table S12: Assessment and Expectation for Technical/Service Capacity
(Percentage responses)
Quarter	Assessment				Expectation
Quarter	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response
Q3:23-24	22.6	75.8	1.6	21.0	41.9	56.3	1.9	40.0
Q4:23-24	29.1	66.2	4.8	24.3	34.1	65.9	0.0	34.1
Q1:24-25	29.4	67.4	3.2	26.2	54.7	45.3	0.0	54.7
Q2:24-25	23.0	72.5	4.5	18.5	57.2	42.5	0.2	57.0
Q3:24-25	32.4	64.2	3.4	29.0	58.6	41.1	0.3	58.3
Q4:24-25					64.3	35.0	0.7	63.6
‘Increase’ in Technical/Service Capacity is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table S1 are applicable here.

Table S13: Assessment and Expectation for Physical Investment
(Percentage responses)
Quarter	Assessment				Expectation
Quarter	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response
Q3:23-24	21.7	76.6	1.6	20.1	23.3	75.8	0.9	22.3
Q4:23-24	28.0	66.7	5.3	22.6	32.2	67.8	0.0	32.2
Q1:24-25	27.4	69.3	3.2	24.2	53.8	45.7	0.5	53.2
Q2:24-25	21.6	72.9	5.5	16.1	55.7	44.1	0.3	55.4
Q3:24-25	30.2	66.4	3.4	26.8	57.0	42.7	0.3	56.7
Q4:24-25					61.5	37.7	0.9	60.6
‘Increase’ in Physical Investment is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table S1 are applicable here.

Table S14: Estimated Spare Capacity for the Services Sector
Survey conducted during	Reference quarter	Response rate for the question on Spare Capacity (per cent)	Spare Capacity (per cent)
Q2:2022-23	Q1:2022-23	79.5	13.5
Q3:2022-23	Q2:2022-23	25.2	12.6
Q4:2022-23	Q3:2022-23	63.0	13.8
Q1:2023-24	Q4:2022-23	79.8	13.6
Q2:2023-24	Q1:2023-24	84.3	12.3
Q3:2023-24	Q2:2023-24	74.0	11.8
Q4:2023-24	Q3:2023-24	74.8	11.7
Q1:2024-25	Q4:2023-24	78.8	11.3
Q2:2024-25	Q1:2024-25	71.5	11.2
Q3:2024-25	Q2:2024-25	79.9	10.6

Infrastructure Sector

Table I1: Assessment and Expectation for Overall Business Situation
(Percentage responses)@
Quarter	Assessment				Expectation
Quarter	Better	No Change	Worse	Net response#	Better	No Change	Worse	Net response
Q3:23-24	44.2	45.8	10.0	34.2	67.3	29.8	2.9	64.4
Q4:23-24	45.0	42.5	12.5	32.5	73.1	21.8	5.0	68.1
Q1:24-25	37.7	51.3	11.0	26.6	70.3	25.4	4.2	66.1
Q2:24-25	38.4	44.9	16.7	21.7	76.5	21.6	2.0	74.5
Q3:24-25	40.2	47.2	12.6	27.6	70.3	26.8	2.9	67.4
Q4:24-25					70.9	25.2	3.9	66.9
‘Increase’ in Overall business situation is optimistic. @: Due to rounding off percentage may not add up to 100. #: Net Response (NR) is the difference of percentage of the respondents reporting optimism and that reporting pessimism. The range is -100 to 100. Any value greater than zero indicates expansion/ optimism and any value less than zero indicates contraction/ pessimism.

Table I2: Assessment and Expectation for Turnover
(Percentage responses)
Quarter	Assessment				Expectation
Quarter	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response
Q3:23-24	47.9	40.3	11.8	36.1	53.8	42.3	3.8	50.0
Q4:23-24	42.5	42.5	15.0	27.5	75.6	22.7	1.7	73.9
Q1:24-25	37.7	51.3	11.0	26.6	68.4	24.8	6.8	61.5
Q2:24-25	41.3	42.8	15.9	25.4	73.2	23.5	3.3	69.9
Q3:24-25	44.1	42.5	13.4	30.7	73.2	24.6	2.2	71.0
Q4:24-25					72.7	24.2	3.1	69.5
‘Increase’ in Turnover is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table I1 are applicable here.

Table I3: Assessment and Expectation for Full-time Employees
(Percentage responses)
Quarter	Assessment				Expectation
Quarter	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response
Q3:23-24	32.5	57.3	10.3	22.2	42.3	54.8	2.9	39.4
Q4:23-24	27.5	65.0	7.5	20.0	63.2	34.2	2.6	60.7
Q1:24-25	31.2	59.1	9.7	21.4	47.5	51.7	0.8	46.6
Q2:24-25	28.3	61.6	10.1	18.1	64.7	33.3	2.0	62.7
Q3:24-25	30.7	60.6	8.7	22.0	41.5	56.3	2.2	39.3
Q4:24-25					48.4	48.4	3.1	45.3
‘Increase’ in Full-time Employees is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table I1 are applicable here.

Table I4: Assessment and Expectation for Part-time Employees
(Percentage responses)
Quarter	Assessment				Expectation
Quarter	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response
Q3:23-24	35.8	57.5	6.6	29.2	60.3	34.5	5.2	55.2
Q4:23-24	29.2	66.3	4.5	24.7	68.3	31.7	0.0	68.3
Q1:24-25	32.8	59.9	7.3	25.5	55.8	41.9	2.3	53.5
Q2:24-25	21.5	66.7	11.8	9.7	63.7	33.3	3.0	60.7
Q3:24-25	30.3	61.6	8.1	22.2	54.3	40.2	5.4	48.9
Q4:24-25					62.0	34.0	4.0	58.0
‘Increase’ in Part-time Employees is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table I1 are applicable here.

Table I5: Assessment and Expectation for Availability of Finance
(Percentage responses)
Quarter	Assessment				Expectation
Quarter	Improve	No Change	Worsen	Net response	Improve	No Change	Worsen	Net response
Q3:23-24	36.7	57.5	5.8	30.8	46.6	49.5	3.9	42.7
Q4:23-24	34.7	58.5	6.8	28.0	63.0	35.3	1.7	61.3
Q1:24-25	35.1	59.1	5.8	29.2	58.6	40.5	0.9	57.8
Q2:24-25	31.4	55.5	13.1	18.2	68.0	32.0	0.0	68.0
Q3:24-25	34.1	57.9	7.9	26.2	55.1	44.1	0.7	54.4
Q4:24-25					60.8	37.6	1.6	59.2
‘Improve’ in Availability of Finance is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table I1 are applicable here.

Table I6: Assessment and Expectation for Cost of Finance
(Percentage responses)
Quarter	Assessment				Expectation
Quarter	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response
Q3:23-24	38.2	55.5	6.4	-31.8	54.2	45.8	0.0	-54.2
Q4:23-24	35.2	61.1	3.7	-31.5	61.7	37.4	0.9	-60.7
Q1:24-25	36.4	56.3	7.3	-29.1	60.4	38.7	0.9	-59.4
Q2:24-25	38.3	50.0	11.7	-26.6	65.1	32.2	2.7	-62.4
Q3:24-25	37.3	52.4	10.3	-27.0	63.5	33.3	3.2	-60.3
Q4:24-25					60.7	36.9	2.5	-58.2
‘Decrease’ in Cost of Finance is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table I1 are applicable here.

Table I7: Assessment and Expectation for Salary/Wages
(Percentage responses)
Quarter	Assessment				Expectation
Quarter	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response
Q3:23-24	44.9	50.8	4.2	-40.7	41.2	56.9	2.0	-39.2
Q4:23-24	27.7	70.6	1.7	-26.1	59.8	39.3	0.9	-59.0
Q1:24-25	38.3	57.8	3.9	-34.4	55.2	44.8	0.0	-55.2
Q2:24-25	31.9	63.0	5.1	-26.8	70.6	29.4	0.0	-70.6
Q3:24-25	34.9	61.1	4.0	-31.0	43.1	56.9	0.0	-43.1
Q4:24-25					47.6	52.4	0.0	-47.6
‘Decrease’ in Salary/Wages is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table I1 are applicable here.

Table I8: Assessment and Expectation for Cost of Inputs
(Percentage responses)
Quarter	Assessment				Expectation
Quarter	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response
Q3:23-24	52.1	43.6	4.3	-47.9	52.0	41.0	7.0	-45.0
Q4:23-24	52.6	43.9	3.5	-49.1	59.1	37.4	3.5	-55.7
Q1:24-25	42.2	51.7	6.1	-36.1	63.4	36.6	0.0	-63.4
Q2:24-25	49.2	42.3	8.5	-40.8	75.9	23.4	0.7	-75.2
Q3:24-25	48.0	45.6	6.4	-41.6	70.8	29.2	0.0	-70.8
Q4:24-25					70.4	29.6	0.0	-70.4
‘Decrease’ in Cost of Inputs is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table I1 are applicable here.

Table I9: Assessment and Expectation for Selling Price
(Percentage responses)
Quarter	Assessment				Expectation
Quarter	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response
Q3:23-24	37.0	54.0	9.0	28.0	42.4	53.3	4.3	38.0
Q4:23-24	28.9	61.1	10.0	18.9	62.0	36.0	2.0	60.0
Q1:24-25	30.8	60.0	9.2	21.5	60.7	33.7	5.6	55.1
Q2:24-25	24.5	61.8	13.6	10.9	69.8	27.1	3.1	66.7
Q3:24-25	27.0	63.1	9.9	17.1	52.7	44.5	2.7	50.0
Q4:24-25					56.4	43.6	0.0	56.4
‘Increase’ in Selling Price is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table I1 are applicable here.

Table I10: Assessment and Expectation for Profit Margin
(Percentage responses)
Quarter	Assessment				Expectation
Quarter	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response
Q3:23-24	35.0	55.0	10.0	25.0	37.3	56.9	5.9	31.4
Q4:23-24	26.1	56.3	17.6	8.4	56.3	36.1	7.6	48.7
Q1:24-25	28.6	59.7	11.7	16.9	54.7	38.5	6.8	47.9
Q2:24-25	26.8	52.2	21.0	5.8	65.1	31.6	3.3	61.8
Q3:24-25	28.0	55.2	16.8	11.2	45.7	49.3	5.1	40.6
Q4:24-25					55.2	40.0	4.8	50.4
‘Increase’ in Profit Margin is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table I1 are applicable here.

Table I11: Assessment and Expectation for Inventories
(Percentage responses)
Quarter	Assessment				Expectation
Quarter	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response
Q3:23-24	41.7	53.4	4.9	36.9	60.5	36.8	2.6	57.9
Q4:23-24	34.0	62.1	3.9	30.1	75.2	23.8	1.0	74.3
Q1:24-25	34.8	59.4	5.8	29.0	58.0	39.0	3.0	55.0
Q2:24-25	30.4	59.8	9.8	20.5	71.5	27.0	1.5	70.1
Q3:24-25	35.6	56.8	7.6	28.0	59.1	38.2	2.7	56.4
Q4:24-25					62.4	35.9	1.7	60.7
‘Increase’ in Inventories is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table I1 are applicable here.

Table I12: Assessment and Expectation for Technical/Service Capacity
(Percentage responses)
Quarter	Assessment				Expectation
Quarter	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response
Q3:23-24	39.8	55.9	4.3	35.5	66.7	33.3	0.0	66.7
Q4:23-24	32.5	64.9	2.6	29.9	75.0	25.0	0.0	75.0
Q1:24-25	36.2	59.5	4.3	31.9	66.2	32.4	1.4	64.9
Q2:24-25	30.9	57.4	11.8	19.1	79.1	20.9	0.0	79.1
Q3:24-25	32.9	62.0	5.1	27.8	72.5	27.5	0.0	72.5
Q4:24-25					68.8	30.0	1.3	67.5
‘Increase’ in Technical/Service Capacity is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table I1 are applicable here.

Table I13: Assessment and Expectation for Physical Investment
(Percentage responses)
Quarter	Assessment				Expectation
Quarter	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response	Increase	No Change	Decrease	Net response
Q3:23-24	35.8	60.0	4.2	31.6	46.8	53.2	0.0	46.8
Q4:23-24	28.6	68.8	2.6	26.0	75.3	24.7	0.0	75.3
Q1:24-25	33.1	61.2	5.8	27.3	64.0	36.0	0.0	64.0
Q2:24-25	36.5	52.7	10.8	25.7	75.8	24.2	0.0	75.8
Q3:24-25	32.6	61.6	5.8	26.7	75.3	24.7	0.0	75.3
Q4:24-25					71.1	28.9	0.0	71.1
‘Increase’ in Physical Investment is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table I1 are applicable here.

¹ The survey results reflect the respondents’ views, which are not necessarily shared by the Reserve Bank.

² Results of the previous survey round were released on the Bank’s website on October 09, 2024.

³ Net Response (NR) is the difference between the percentage of respondents reporting optimism and those reporting pessimism. It ranges between -100 to 100. Positive value indicates expansion/optimism and negative value indicates contraction/pessimism. In other words, NR = (I – D); where, I is the percentage response of ‘Increase/optimism’, D is the percentage response of ‘Decrease/pessimism’ and E is the percentage response as ‘no change/ equal’ (i.e., I+D+E=100). For example, increase in turnover is optimism whereas decrease in cost of inputs is optimism.