27th Annual Global CEO Survey: India perspective

For businesses in India, 2024 holds promise. Optimism voiced by business leaders in India runs through PwC’s 27th Annual Global CEO Survey: India perspective. Stressing the imperative to embrace change, most CEOs polled said they have started taking some concrete steps toward reinvention to remain resilient. India’s air of positivity is being felt across the world, too – the CEO Survey shows that India has risen to the fifth position as an investment destination for global CEOs, up from the ninth position it held in 2023.
Clearly, despite three years of global macroeconomic headwinds — including a pandemic that severely impaired businesses and conflicts in Europe and West Asia – India is looking at robust gross domestic product (GDP) growth. Global companies are hopeful about the future, too, though – unlike their visibly upbeat India counterparts – they are still somewhat cautious in their predictions for the year. As per our survey results, 86% of India CEOs said they believed the economy would improve in their own territory – as against 44% of global CEOs who believed this about their respective territories. It was against this backdrop defined by positive trends in India’s economy today that the 27th Annual Global CEO Survey was conducted. PwC surveyed 4,702 CEOs across 105 countries and territories, 79 of whom were from India. 41% of India CEOs represented privately owned companies; 59% were from publicly listed companies. The sector-wise break-up showed that the largest number of business leaders were from the industrial manufacturing and automotive sector (24%), and consumer sector (24%), followed by financial services (16%), energy, utilities and resources (15%), technology, media and telecommunications (11%), and healthcare (10%).

Key India findings

• Almost 9 out of 10 India CEOs believe that the Indian economy will improve.
• 7 out of 10 India CEOs are very confident about their company’s prospects for revenue growth over the next three years.
• Changing customer preferences, agree India CEOs, is the top reinvention driver.
• Cyber and health risks along with inflation are the three key threats in the next 12 months.
• Generative AI (GenAI), India CEOs anticipate, will deliver significant top and bottom line benefits and enhance the company’s ability to build trust with its stakeholders.
• For India CEOs, the top three reinvention actions to create, deliver and capture value are:
  • adopting new technologies
  • developing novel products/services
  • forming new strategic partnerships.

  Evidently, a majority of Indian business leaders are taking proactive steps to ensure long-term business viability as they mobilise resources to deal with two megatrends – climate change and technological disruptions, particularly GenAI. This year’s report, therefore, is built around three themes that emerge from the survey findings:

  • India’s growth story: Reviews India’s economic growth, India market and factors that account for the long-term viability of business models.
    
  • Impetus to reinvent: Examines two megatrends, climate change and technological disruption caused by GenAI, that compel further reinvention.
    
  • Roadmap to reinvention: Outlines four essential actions to jumpstart continuous reinvention.
    

  With the current economy of India looking up and Indian company heads exploring new ways to advance growth, the survey underscores what it will take to stay the course.