Corporate India in a sweet spot, to scale up capex

Private-sector capital expenditure has not been up to expectations, despite robust corporate profits. Companies are now in a "sweet spot" and will expand capacity to meet demand,

- Harsha Vardhan Agarwal tells Raghav Aggarwal and Prasanta Sahu.

Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry president and Emami managing director Harsha Vardhan Agarwal tells Raghav Aggarwal and Prasanta Sahu.

Amid concerns of low growth in salaries and wages, he says adequate compensation for talent is of utmost importance" for companies looking for growth and innovation. Excerpts:

Corporate profitability has multiplied in recent years, but it's not adequately reflected in compensation increases for the staff. How do you see it from an industry perspective?

Companies have been able to leverage their balance sheet. According to our assessment, manufacturing capacity utilization is now somewhere around 74-75% and that's a very sweet spot for the industry. So now, we are at a point where the industry can start looking upward, and hence we believe from here on, more capex will come.