India Inc is increasing its agility and adroitness to face challenges expected in 2023 from a global recession and Covid worries from China head-on, by digging into the lessons the pandemic taught them on building resilience, corporate chieftains said.

India is in a better growth trajectory with strong domestic consumption and confidence, and many companies are re-strategising to derive faster local growth and parallelly tap opportunities to increase their participation in global manufacturing, they said. But some are also worried about the impact of external factors on their revenue growth.

It goes without reasonable doubt that the Indian economy is doing better than the rest of the world, said Confederation of Indian Industry president Sanjiv Bajaj. “With our major export destinations such as the US and EU expected to witness a growth slowdown next year, many of the major Indian companies have diversified their external market away from these economies to some extent, which will, in turn, help to preserve their top-line growth,” said Bajaj, who is also chairman of Bajaj Finserv. “In addition, the economic fragility of China and the Russia-Ukraine war have emphasised upon the corporate sector to lay increased focus on building optimised and resilient supply chains.”

Both policy makers and CEOs are gearing up to ensure that India becomes a strong contender for participating in the China-plus one strategy of global majors, said Sumant Sinha, chairman of ReNew Power and president of industry body Assocham. “Free-trade agreements could help open some doors, but ensuring agility and competitiveness to increasingly operate in the global markets will be critical.”

India is well-positioned to remain the fastest growing major economy, supported by increasing consumption, consumer confidence and investment, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran said. “While slowing global growth may act as a drag on output, our rising share of global manufacturing should provide some buffer and insulation,” he said in a recent message to Tata Group employees.

While India may be among the better performing economies, being intrinsically linked with the global system would entail that the evolving international developments would leave an imprint on the local economy, said Bajaj.

While any escalation in global tensions may hurt the trajectory of India’s economic recovery, CEOs seem more confident in the resilience of their organisations, as they have prepared themselves to make the most of the current environment, brought on by the promise of technology and local talent.

According to CEOs, an imminent slowdown in global growth is widely expected due to an amalgamation of factors such as rising interest costs, high inflation and geopolitical strife.

For full report, go to

www.economictimes.com