KPMG survey: Two out of three CEOs in India bracing for recession

Recession fears are looming large over the global economy. As per a survey conducted by KPMG between July and August of this year, two out of three CEOs in India are bracing for a recession in the next twelve months.

“The recession that we are talking about is actually a global recession and the consequential impact one would have on India, as such. So the CEOs in India while they have a plan, and they are confident of the resilience of their companies, etc. the recession is a global one," Yezdi Nagporewalla, CEO of KPMG, told CNBC-TV18.

According to the survey, 58 percent CEOs in India believe that the recession would be a short and mild one and one in every two CEOs have a plan to deal with it.

“While globally, you have a larger proportion of people that we interviewed in the survey, believe that there will be a recession. In India, that proportion is smaller, it's about two-thirds, globally it was 86 percent. While there is consensus that this recession will be shorter and milder as such,” Nagporewalla said.

According to the survey, CEOs in India are also more confident about resilience of the global economy over the next six months compared to global CEOs. But that is not to say that CEOs in India are without their share of worries.

“CEOs in India, they recognize it and they are watching it as it advances. Some of the aspects of the plan — including some of the CEOs that I have interacted with — it's around talent, technology, where you start looking at talent differently, and spend time more on trainings, etc," the KPMG CEO said.

Pandemic fatigue, inflation and anticipated recession are some of the key concerns inside the boardrooms. Reiterating the same, Nagporewalla said, “It is actually a pandemic fatigue, coupled with the economic outlook, coupled with the kind of challenges CEOs are facing with these days. These are all unprecedented, whether its geopolitical aspects, whether it's inflation, India always had inflation and now this is a global inflation phenomenon.”