SUBDUED

After a warm Q2, the BT-C Fore Business Confidence Index for Q3 has cooled again, falling twice in the past four quarters. Will Q4 bring happy tidings?

- BY ALOKESH BHATTACHARYYA

Over the past several months, the economy—both in India and globally—has been on a roller-coaster ride, with positives and negatives intermingling to create a heady concoction of sentiments. Almost fittingly, the Business Today-C Fore Business Confidence Index (BCI) has mirrored this sway between hope and despair. In the January-March 2022 quarter, the index had risen to 55.2 from 48.4 in the previous quarter. In April-June 2022, it fell to 51.2. Then in July-September 2022, the BCI rose again to 52.5, only to fall again to 51.4 in the October-December 2022 quarter, the second-lowest for calendar year 2022.