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Signs of economic revival
By Dhaval Valia
 The economic sentiment on the ground is improving. A couple of CIOs, I recently spoke to, told me that the talk in boardrooms is no longer about the slowdown and cost-cutting. Rather, the focus now is on finding ways to grow, creating newer markets, and enhancing productivity.
The CIOs also told me that their CEOs are increasingly expecting their IT teams to help the company tide over the uncertain times.
What is even more impressive is that, many partners I spoke to, over the last fortnight have also become positive in their outlook and approach. Their focus is back on growth.
For example, Anirudh Shrotriya, Director of the Pune-based solutions provider, Shro Computers, says that his company is on an all-out mission to revive growth. Shro has taken steeper targets from its principals for the April-May-June quarter as compared to the same quarter in 2008, and is confident of achieving them. Shrotriya believes that this is the only way to instill confidence among his team and customers.
Similarly, Mumbai-based solutions provider, Xpress Computers, is also not bowing to the negative sentiment. Over the last couple of months I have seen this company’s marketing get aggressive—I am on the company’s mailing list—with communications about new products and service offerings. Chetan Shah, CEO of Xpress says that his objective is to make business happen no matter what it takes.
This sense of optimism indicates that an economic revival may be round the corner. Contrary to my earlier pessimistic estimates, I now expect market recovery to start as early as July. I am confident that during the July-August-September quarter we will see enterprise IT demand pick up substantially, and by the October-November-December quarter we should expect a healthy 20+ percent growth rate.
Yet the biggest test for the economic revival will be the coming national elections. For the market to recover, it is imperative that we bring to power a stable government. A fractured verdict and an unstable coalition government could stall the recovery.
This makes it necessary for all of us to go out and vote.
Meanwhile, do let me know your views about when the economy will turn around. |