MUMBAI: Good news for the advertising fraternity! The services sector has continued its steady growth for the period April-June 2003 - says the latest Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)-Ascon Services Sector Survey.
The survey concludes that the services sector is estimated to grow between 7 to 7.5 per cent this year. This, it says, is significant, given the fact that services contribute the largest towards growth of the Indian economy.
The CII Ascon study reveals that cellular phones, construction industry and the hotel industry have posted impressive growth. Out of the eight sectors surveyed, three sectors registered growth in excess of 20 per cent, four sectors registered high growth between 10-20 per cent and only one sector recorded negative growth.
According to the CII-Ascon Survey, the fastest growing sector has been the cellular services sector, which registered a subscriber growth rate of 115 per cent over the period April-June 2003 over April-June 2002.
The CII-Ascon Survey says that the housing finance sector also registered impressive growth. Sanctions of home loans registered 35 per cent growth while disbursements registered a growth of 34 percent in April-June 2003 over April-June 2002.
The construction industry also had a positive growth. The industry recorded a growth of 15 per cent on turnover and an impressive 42.7 per cent on exports.
The tourism industry also maintained a high growth with tourist arrivals increasing by 12 per cent. The industry rallied forcefully after the Iraq war and tourist arrivals are expected to rise up to 15-20 per cent for the next six months. Occupancy in hotels are also expected at 15-20 per cent in the coming months.
The IT industry also maintained a high growth trend. Turnover in hardware registered a growth of 16 per cent while it was 12 per cent during the last year. Sale of personal computers and software recorded a growth of 12 per cent and 20 per cent respectively.
The leasing industry, unfortunately, had a dismal year adds the CII-Ascon report. It fell by 2 per cent and the outlook is negative in the coming months. The CII-Ascon Survey also attributes the reason for the poor showing to the Reserve Bank of India’s restrictive policies, which curtails the growth of NBFC’s (non banking finance corporations) drastically.
