Page 5 - CII ARTHA

OCTOBER 2025

Many other institutions have followed suit, citing labour-intensive sectors, and nurture emerging
stronger-than-expected first-quarter outcomes and industrial hubs, ensuring a broad-based and inclusive
continued momentum in investment and consumption. industrial transformation.

Yet, India is not entirely insulated from external shocks. Similarly, the article ‘Corporate India in Q1FY26:
Persistent global challenges—including trade Profitability Rises Amid Soft Sales and Easing Input
protectionism, geopolitical conflicts, as well as Costs’ presents a detailed analysis of corporate
volatility in financial and commodity markets —pose performance, underscoring improving margins, healthy
potential risks. Moreover, the outcome of ongoing investment intent, and resilient domestic demand,
bilateral trade negotiations, particularly with the United factors that reinforce India’s robust economic outlook.
States, will warrant close monitoring in the months
ahead. The Sector in Focus section explores India’s green
growth agenda through two topical pieces—'Green
However, these disruptions also offer India an Growth: Powering India’s Industrial Transformation’
unprecedented opportunity to reimagine its growth and ‘How Green Hydrogen and Its Derivatives Are
story. This juncture should be viewed not as a crisis, Rewiring India’s Energy and Industrial Landscape’.
but as an inflection point, an opportunity to accelerate Both reaffirm a key truth: India’s path to Viksit Bharat
reforms, deepen competitiveness, and enhance 2047 will be driven not only by scale and innovation,
productivity. With continued structural reforms, digital but by sustainability and foresight.
leadership, and global integration, India is
well-positioned to emerge as a stabilizing force in an The Global Trends section underscores that while
otherwise uncertain world. global growth prospects show tentative improvement,
the path to durable recovery remains uneven. The
Against this backdrop, the current issue of CII Artha special article, ‘The Ascent of India’s Chemical
presents a rich and forward-looking analysis of critical Sector’, by Mr R. Mukundan, President Designate, CII,
macroeconomic factors—both domestic and provides a fitting conclusion to this edition,
global—that shape India’s economic policymaking. spotlighting a sunrise sector with potential for global
leadership.
A highlight of this edition is the focus article, ‘From
Protection to Competition: Strengthening the Resilience We trust that the depth and analytical richness of this
of India’s Economy’, by Dr Hagen Kruse and Dr issue will make for compelling reading and serve as a
Franziska Ohnsorge from the World Bank. The authors valuable resource for policymakers, industry leaders,
commend India’s growth dynamism and call for deeper and economists as they chart the roadmap toward a
global integration and renewed competitiveness, Viksit Bharat—resilient, sustainable, and globally
proposing steps such as tariff rationalisation, export competitive.
diversification through FTAs, and accelerated
second-generation reforms to drive job creation.

The Domestic Trends section reviews India’s growth
trajectory in the first half of FY26, emphasizing that
while the momentum remains strong, sustained
vigilance is needed on improving nominal growth
trends, export diversification, and fiscal consolidation.
The CII article, ‘Accelerating India’s Manufacturing
Transformation: Insights from the ASI Data’, provides
valuable perspectives on driving a manufacturing
resurgence as a pathway to realizing the Viksit Bharat
vision. It advocates targeted interventions to enhance Chandrajit Banerjee
capital efficiency, raise real wages, modernise Director General, CII

05