EconomyBusiness and investment
How confident are Indian businesses?
Manufacturers' assessment index was 104.4 in Q2 FY27, on the optimistic side of neutral.
Written for readers following Indian business and investment. Readings assessed on 25 Oct 2026.
How do manufacturers judge current conditions?
The business assessment index combines manufacturers' responses on production, demand, finance and other conditions. Its neutral point separates overall optimism from pessimism.
Manufacturers' assessment
RBI Industrial Outlook Survey, quarterly index.
How to read it. A higher index means a more optimistic assessment overall. It describes respondents' judgement of conditions, rather than the speed of economic growth.
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What did manufacturers expect?
For Q3 FY27, manufacturers' expectations index was 126.3. That describes what respondents expected for that quarter, rather than its realised outcome.
Manufacturers' expectations for the target quarter
Quarterly index. Dates label the quarter being anticipated; the latest target can still be under way.
How to read it. These responses were collected before the quarter shown was complete. The line records expectations, rather than realised conditions or a forecast checked against outcomes.
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The latest workbook used here was released on 7 Oct 2026. Historical responses are shown as held in that release, rather than reconstructed from past releases.
How does the rest of business feel?
In Q2 FY27, the balance reporting better rather than worse business was 26.3 percentage points in services and 24.1 in infrastructure.
Services and infrastructure business conditions
Quarterly, share reporting better conditions minus share reporting worse, percentage points.
How to read it. Above zero means more respondents reported improvement than deterioration. These balances use a different scale from the manufacturing index.
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Are firms reporting more physical investment?
The same survey asks services and infrastructure firms about physical investment. A positive balance means more respondents reported an increase than a decrease; it says nothing about the rupee amount spent.
The balance reporting higher physical investment
Quarterly assessment, increase share minus decrease share, percentage points.
How to read it. Read the direction and breadth of reported investment changes. A small firm and a large firm each contribute a response, so this is not aggregate investment growth.
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Survey optimism can accompany investment without causing it. A forecast would need a separate test against later outcomes.
What the numbers can't tell you
- Investment includes more than companies
- National fixed investment includes housing, public infrastructure and corporate assets. Neither the national total nor industrial production isolates private corporate capex.
- Factory surveys cover their respondents
- OBICUS covers manufacturing firms that respond to the RBI. Respondent numbers and composition change. Seasonal adjustment can revise earlier readings, and services capacity is outside this factory measure.
- The accounting base matters
- GDP and industrial-production revisions change coverage and measurement. GDP bases stay separate here; industrial growth is calculated within each base, with changes marked on the chart.
- Listed companies are only one part of business
- The company panel excludes financial firms, government companies and unlisted businesses. Matched-company growth reduces sample-change distortions within a release; it does not make a fixed or economy-wide panel.
- Opinions and lending are supporting evidence
- An optimistic response is not an investment order. Bank borrowing pays for working capital as well as assets, while investment may be financed from retained profits or other sources.
The workings
The question
Data
Each measure keeps its own period. Charts of the RBI's own readings hide table and download controls. Bundles are listed in data status.