Economic slowdown to end by October-December: Survey

October 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Despite the economic slowdown, Indian consumers are upbeat about spending this festive season, according to a survey. "The average Diwali spend among Indians this year would be $213 with household items, health and beauty, entertainment and vouchers or gift cards topping the Diwali gift list," said the survey by online payment company PayPal.

September 9th, 2009 Fed survey: most of US in economic healing modeWASHINGTON — A new government survey finds the vast majority of the country reporting economic activity is stabilizing or improving, as the worst recession since the 1930s appears to be over. The Federal Reserve's snapshot of economic conditions backs predictions by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and most other analysts that the economy has started to grow again in the current quarter.

July 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A majority of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in India are still struggling to cope with the global slowdown and remain unaware about the stimulus measures taken by the government to help them, says an industry survey. "Ninety-four percent of the respondents reported that their overall business has been affected severely or moderately due to the current economic slowdown," said the survey conducted by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

July 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented the Economic Survey 2008-09 to Parliament today. The highlights of the Economic Survey 2008-09 are as follows: 1.

July 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Though comprehensive job loss data is not available for the current financial year, the Economic Survey Thursday said the financial crisis hit the Indian job market in the last quarter of 2008 but improvement in the employment situation was in sight. Quoting a labour ministry survey, it said during October-December 2008, there was decrease in employment of about half a million workers".

June 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Indian corporates, which invested 2.4 billion euros ($3.35 billion) in European Union (EU) last year, are unlikely to pump in as much money in 2009 as they think it may take upto one year for Europe to recover from the slowdown, says a survey. "Indian investments in the EU during the current year may not reach the 2008 mark of 2.4 billion euros," the survey conducted by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) said.

June 19th, 2009 KOLKATA - Tobacco and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) giant ITC Ltd has recruited more management graduates during the economic slowdown than it normally does, without retrenching any of its staff, claimed a top official here Friday. "Management graduates who otherwise would have gone to the Wall Street have come to us this time and this has encouraged us to recruit more," said Kurush Grant, chief executive of the tobacco division of the company.

June 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Despite signs of an improving economy, India Inc feels actual recovery will happen only after September, a survey by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has found. According to the survey, conducted by the CII northern region, 96 percent of respondents believe a turnaround would happen only in the second half of 2009-10, thanks to the ongoing global slowdown The survey found 72 percent of respondents expecting the economic growth to be in the range of 5-7 percent this fiscal.

April 2nd, 2009 KOLKATA - The Third Front should try formulating alternative economic policies to deal with the economic slowdown if it came to power at the centre, West Bengal's ruling Left Front chairman Biman Bose said here Thursday. 'The economic condition of the country is affected due to the slowdown.

March 31st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Hit by the economic slowdown, the country's retail sales growth sharply fell to 11 percent in December 2008 from 34 percent in the like period of 2007, according to a study by global consultancy KPMG. 'Falling footfalls and poor conversion ratio have led to a decline in sales growth to 11 percent in December 2008 compared to 34 percent in December 2007,' said the KPMG report, 'Indian Retail: Time to change lanes', released Tuesday.

March 26th, 2009 KOLKATA - The Indian economy, grappling with the current global slowdown, would start reviving in three to six months, a senior government official said here Thursday. 'I am reasonably hopeful that the monetary and the fiscal policies (taken by the government) would play themselves out,' Suresh Tendulkar, chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, said at a seminar here.

March 2nd, 2009 DUBAI - The global economic slowdown is affecting Saudi Arabia, home to over 1.5 million expatriate Indians, with three-fourths of companies there expecting a freeze in hiring in the next two quarters of the January-December 2009 accounting year, according to a new survey. The 'Saudi Arabia's Business Confidence Q1-2009,' the quarterly survey of HSBC Bank's Saudi affiliate SABB, found that along with a freeze in hiring, there has been a significant dip in business confidence in the next two quarters as compared to the third quarter of 2008.

January 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - After registering a fall in October for the first time in 15 years on account of the global economic slowdown, India's industrial production rose by 2.4 percent the next month, latest official data showed Monday. The welcome increase in November came after a 0.3 percent drop in October in the index of industrial production (IIP), data released by the Central Statistical Organization showed.

December 22nd, 2008 LONDON - The British economy slowed down faster in the third quarter of 2008 than previously estimated, official figures showed Tuesday. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the economy contracted by 0.6 percent between July and September - higher than the previous estimate of 0.5 percent.

December 22nd, 2008 NEW DELHI - Job losses in India will continue into the next year due to the global slowdown, but it will be at 'minimum' levels, a top government economist said here Tuesday. Soon after the government tabled the mid-year review of the Indian economy in parliament, Arvind Virmani, the chief economic adviser in the finance ministry, told reporters that most of the job cuts would be in the export sector as industry was hit hard by the slowdown.