Indian CEOs confident about growth of their companies, says KPMG

The global economy’s stable performance in 2017 has sparked optimism amongst CEOs in their outlook towards global growth opportunities.

According to the fourth annual KPMG CEO Outlook report for India, 89 percent of the CEOs surveyed expressed confidence in the global economy while only 69 percent seemed optimistic about the growth of Indian economy.

Despite relative lower confidence in the Indian economy, CEOs in India foresee a bright outlook for their businesses over the next three years.

This can be attributed to the fact that 91 percent are confident about their companies growth prospects and 81 percent are confident about the growth of the industry they are a part of.

KPMG surveyed 1,300 chief executives across the world out of which 125 CEOs were from India.

Bringing agility

Going by the survey, CEOs in India are focusing on building an agile organisation and growing organically to drive their growth. Although CEOs are confident about their company’s growth, they anticipate that sustaining growth is likely to become challenging in the competitive environment.

They believe staying agile and adapting to evolving customer demand is likely to ensure sustainable growth. This sentiment is clearly reflected in the mindset of CEOs, as 86 percent CEOs, much higher than their global peers (59 percent), believe that becoming an agile organisation will be critical to their company’s survival.

The survey also reveals that 57 percent of the Indian CEOs acquisitions will have only a moderate impact on the organisation, with the remainder split between making no acquisitions, that is 25 percent, and making acquisitions with significant impact, that is 18 percent.

The survey indicates that 62 percent of the Indian CEOs see emerging markets as the biggest priority for geographical expansion over the next three years quoting central, South America and Eastern Europe as the company's main focus for the expansion.

KPMG survey finds that 66 percent of the CEOs see territorialism as a major threat to their organisation's growth. Also, the robust corporate earnings' and the overall financial performance of the company are major indicators to determine cash bonus.

A majority of the chief executives also see the growing cybersecurity threats as a risk which could hurt the company's health in the long term.

Ninety-four percent of the chief executives said the disruption in the industry is more of an opportunity than a threat. However, the same proportion, 93 percent, also seems overwhelmed by the time needed to make progress.

Shorter tenures

The survey also found that Indian CEOs have a shorter time span in the company as compared to the core economies. The average time-span of every Indian chief executive, according to the survey, is 4.9 years, while the CEOs in the core economies, America, Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, the Nordics and Africa, have an average term of 5.7 years.

The CEOs in India feel delivering on-demand services, personalising customer experience and digital engagements pose significant challenges. As many as 50 percent CEOs believe appointing senior leaders who can relate better with millennials is a challenge.  Survey also showed that 46 percent CEOs are facing challenges of engaging with millennials via digital channels.

In this year findings,CEOs in India expect their organisations to drive growth while managing strong headwinds – from rising cyber security risk to geopolitical uncertainty.

They are confident in the national, global and industry prospects, but believe a pragmatic and realistic view will be key to grow their revenue over a three-year horizon.

As a result, they are challenging their company, their teams and themselves, to apply greater rigor, agility and speed to everything right from taking personal ownership for leading digital transformation or ensuring data protection and customer trust.