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CII Survey Puts Business Confidence at Five-Quarter High of 66.5

The lobby uses the upbeat reading to advocate pre-Budget measures to sustain demand-led momentum.

Overview

  • Firms point to resilient domestic demand, with nearly two-thirds reporting higher demand in Q2 FY26 and 72% expecting further improvement in Q3.
  • More than half of respondents foresee a 5–20% sales lift from GST rate cuts that took effect on September 22.
  • Sixty-nine percent of surveyed companies anticipate an RBI repo rate cut by the end of Q4 FY26, reflecting expectations of near-term easing.
  • Investment and hiring intentions remain robust across manufacturing and services, based on responses gathered in early to mid-December from over 175 firms.
  • CII’s pre-Budget proposals include a Rs 150-lakh crore NIP 2.0 and a sovereign-anchored India Development and Strategic Fund, plus a Rs 1,000 crore digitisation push, new research centres and banking reforms.