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PDF - Services and Infrastructure Outlook Survey for Q4:2025-26 ()
Date : Apr 08, 2026
Services and Infrastructure Outlook Survey for Q4:2025-26

Today, the Reserve Bank released the results of 48th round of its quarterly Services and Infrastructure Outlook Survey (SIOS) conducted during Q4:2025-26. This forward-looking survey1 captures qualitative assessment and expectations of Indian companies engaged in the services and infrastructure sectors on a set of business parameters relating to demand conditions, price situation and other business conditions. In the latest round of the survey2, 835 companies provided their assessment for Q4:2025-26 and expectations for Q1:2026-27 as well as outlook on key parameters for the subsequent two quarters.

Highlights:

A. Services Sector

Assessment for Q4:2025-26

  • Service sector firms’ assessed improvement in overall business situation and their turnover during Q4:2025-26 (Chart 1 and Table A).

  • Sentiments on employment conditions remained positive however sentiments on part-time employment moderated from the previous survey round.

  • Enterprises gauged higher cost pressures stemming from input costs and salary outgo; however, pressures from cost of finance moderated during the quarter.

  • Services firms assessed softening of selling prices during Q4:2025-26, whereas they recorded slight improvement in profit margins.

Expectations for Q1:2026-27

  • Services firms remained optimistic about demand conditions in Q1:2026-27, however, their optimism regarding overall business situation and turnover moderated compared to the previous quarter (Chart 1 and Table A).

  • Firms expect heightened pressures from input and wage costs in Q1:2026-27; while finance cost pressures are likely to ease.

  • Responding firms expressed lower optimism regarding growth in selling prices and profit margin in Q1:2026-27.

Expectations for Q2:2026-27 and Q3:2026-27

  • Going forward, respondents remain optimistic about business conditions in the services sector till Q3:2026-27 (Table C).

  • Input cost pressures are likely to persist.

Chart 1: Turnover of Services Companies -Net Response

Responding services firms reported that with their existing resources they were able to deliver 9.0 per cent additional services during Q3:2025-26 (Table S14).

B. Results of Pulse Survey3

A pulse survey conducted on services firms revealed that around 38 per cent of the responding firms are affected by the West Asia conflict due to supply chain disruptions, higher energy, input costs and decline in export orders.

C. Infrastructure Sector

Assessment for Q4:2025-26

  • Infrastructure companies remained optimistic on overall business situation as well as their turnover; however, sentiments on employment situation moderated during Q4:2025-26 (Chart 2 and Table B).

  • Respondents assessed easing of cost pressures, while sentiments on selling price growth and profit margin moderated.

Expectations for Q1:2026-27

  • Infrastructure firms continue to remain optimistic on overall business situation and demand conditions in Q1:2026-27 (Chart 2 and Table B).

  • Input cost pressures are expected to remain elevated, leading to tempered expectations for increase in selling prices and profit margins.

Expectations for Q2:2026-27 and Q3:2026-27

  • Respondents remain confident on demand and employment conditions till Q3:2026-27 (Table D).

  • Input cost pressures are likely to persist in near term; with a concomitant rise in selling prices.

Chart 2: Turnover of Infrastructure Companies -Net Response

Summary of Net Responses4 on Survey Parameters

Table A: Services Sector
(per cent)
Parameters Assessment period Expectations period
Q3:2025-26* Q4:2025-26 Q4:2025-26* Q1:2026-27
Overall Business Situation 33.0 36.1 70.2 64.2
Turnover 32.5 38.1 69.4 66.7
Full-time Employees 20.8 24.0 46.1 50.0
Part-time Employees 18.5 12.8 45.7 41.6
Availability of Finance 22.9 23.9 52.8 48.3
Cost of Finance -25.4 -22.5 -45.6 -41.8
Salary & Wages -26.8 -29.2 -50.8 -62.8
Cost of Inputs -34.7 -35.5 -55.5 -58.9
Selling Price 14.6 12.5 47.1 42.8
Profit Margin 8.5 9.0 45.1 39.3
Inventories 20.1 17.5 47.3 39.5
Technical/Service Capacity 25.5 20.6 56.0 50.2
Physical Investment 22.9 15.6 54.4 47.9
*: Based on the previous round’s response.

Table B: Infrastructure Sector
(per cent)
Parameters Assessment period Expectations period
Q3:2025-26* Q4:2025-26 Q4:2025-26* Q1:2026-27
Overall Business Situation 27.3 29.5 69.8 71.9
Turnover 28.5 29.3 70.0 68.9
Full-time Employees 24.0 18.0 59.1 57.0
Part-time Employees 18.3 16.8 61.9 59.4
Availability of Finance 25.3 20.5 61.7 59.5
Cost of Finance -28.2 -13.6 -55.3 -49.2
Salary & Wages -27.3 -21.3 -58.4 -64.5
Cost of Inputs -49.3 -37.8 -68.8 -70.3
Selling Price 22.2 16.4 60.8 57.8
Profit Margin 13.4 5.8 63.1 50.8
Inventories 21.6 11.0 63.2 57.6
Technical/Service Capacity 21.7 18.0 69.4 62.2
Physical Investment 25.2 26.7 72.6 71.7
*: Based on the previous round’s response.

Expectations of Select Parameters for extended period – Net response
(in per cent)
Table C: Services Sector
Parameter Round 47 Round 48
Q4:2025-26 Q1:2026-27 Q2:2026-27 Q3:2026-27
Overall Business Situation 70.2 64.2 64.0 67.4
Turnover 69.4 66.7 66.5 69.5
Full-time Employees 46.1 50.0 50.3 49.6
Part-time Employees 45.7 41.6 43.5 43.7
Cost of Inputs -55.5 -58.9 -53.6 -53.7
Selling Price 47.1 42.8 41.5 44.6

Table D: Infrastructure Sector
Parameter Round 47 Round 48
Q4:2025-26 Q1:2026-27 Q2:2026-27 Q3:2026-27
Overall Business Situation 69.8 71.9 68.6 70.0
Turnover 70.0 68.9 71.9 74.2
Full-time Employees 59.1 57.0 58.2 61.2
Part-time Employees 61.9 59.4 60.2 64.5
Cost of Inputs -68.8 -70.3 -59.7 -64.4
Selling Price 60.8 57.8 60.9 65.1

Note: Please see the excel file for time series data

Services Sector

Table S1: Assessment and Expectation for Overall Business Situation
(Percentage responses)@
Quarter Assessment Expectation
Better No Change Worse Net response# Better No Change Worse Net response
Q4:24-25 42.5 49.9 7.6 34.9 71.4 26.4 2.2 69.2
Q1:25-26 45.8 44.0 10.2 35.5 71.7 26.2 2.1 69.6
Q2:25-26 46.5 44.2 9.3 37.2 60.9 36.9 2.2 58.7
Q3:25-26 43.5 46.0 10.5 33.0 74.5 24.1 1.3 73.2
Q4:25-26 45.0 46.2 8.8 36.1 71.9 26.5 1.7 70.2
Q1:26-27         67.5 29.2 3.3 64.2
‘Increase’ in Overall business situation is optimistic.
@: Due to rounding off percentage may not add up to 100.
#: Net Response (NR) is the difference of percentage of the respondents reporting optimism and that reporting pessimism. The range is -100 to 100. Any value greater than zero indicates expansion/ optimism and any value less than zero indicates contraction/ pessimism.

Table S2: Assessment and Expectation for Turnover
(Percentage responses)
Quarter Assessment Expectation
Increase No Change Decrease Net response Increase No Change Decrease Net response
Q4:24-25 44.9 44.4 10.7 34.3 74.1 23.3 2.6 71.6
Q1:25-26 46.8 41.8 11.4 35.4 74.8 22.7 2.5 72.3
Q2:25-26 47.4 42.8 9.7 37.7 64.0 32.4 3.7 60.3
Q3:25-26 45.0 42.4 12.5 32.5 76.2 21.7 2.1 74.0
Q4:25-26 49.1 39.9 11.0 38.1 71.9 25.6 2.5 69.4
Q1:26-27         71.3 24.0 4.7 66.7
‘Increase’ in Turnover is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table S1 are applicable here.

Table S3: Assessment and Expectation for Full-time Employees
(Percentage responses)
Quarter Assessment Expectation
Increase No Change Decrease Net response Increase No Change Decrease Net response
Q4:24-25 28.4 63.7 7.9 20.4 54.3 44.0 1.7 52.6
Q1:25-26 30.5 60.6 9.0 21.5 55.1 43.8 1.1 53.9
Q2:25-26 28.2 63.7 8.1 20.0 41.9 56.7 1.5 40.4
Q3:25-26 29.9 61.1 9.1 20.8 51.2 47.1 1.7 49.5
Q4:25-26 32.7 58.6 8.7 24.0 47.4 51.2 1.3 46.1
Q1:26-27         51.8 46.5 1.8 50.0
‘Increase’ in Full-time Employees is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table S1 are applicable here.

Table S4: Assessment and Expectation for Part-time Employees
(Percentage responses)
Quarter Assessment Expectation
Increase No Change Decrease Net response Increase No Change Decrease Net response
Q4:24-25 22.5 70.7 6.8 15.8 59.0 38.9 2.2 56.8
Q1:25-26 23.4 69.3 7.3 16.1 58.0 40.6 1.5 56.5
Q2:25-26 25.5 67.2 7.3 18.3 41.9 56.1 2.1 39.8
Q3:25-26 25.3 67.9 6.8 18.5 51.1 46.1 2.7 48.4
Q4:25-26 20.3 72.2 7.5 12.8 47.7 50.2 2.0 45.7
Q1:26-27         44.5 52.6 2.9 41.6
‘Increase’ in Part-time Employees is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table S1 are applicable here.

Table S5: Assessment and Expectation for Availability of Finance
(Percentage responses)
Quarter Assessment Expectation
Improve No Change Worsen Net response Improve No Change Worsen Net response
Q4:24-25 27.9 63.9 8.2 19.7 58.0 40.6 1.4 56.6
Q1:25-26 30.1 62.8 7.0 23.1 58.4 40.2 1.4 57.0
Q2:25-26 34.2 58.7 7.0 27.2 46.1 52.2 1.7 44.4
Q3:25-26 30.7 61.4 7.8 22.9 59.5 38.9 1.7 57.8
Q4:25-26 30.7 62.4 6.9 23.9 54.3 44.3 1.5 52.8
Q1:26-27         50.2 48.0 1.8 48.3
‘Improve’ in Availability of Finance is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table S1 are applicable here.

Table S6: Assessment and Expectation for Cost of Finance
(Percentage responses)
Quarter Assessment Expectation
Increase No Change Decrease Net response Increase No Change Decrease Net response
Q4:24-25 33.7 59.3 6.9 -26.8 61.1 37.0 1.9 -59.2
Q1:25-26 32.3 59.4 8.3 -23.9 61.5 36.4 2.0 -59.5
Q2:25-26 31.0 61.3 7.7 -23.3 44.1 51.4 4.4 -39.7
Q3:25-26 32.8 59.7 7.4 -25.4 51.6 44.4 4.0 -47.6
Q4:25-26 31.0 60.5 8.5 -22.5 48.9 47.7 3.3 -45.6
Q1:26-27         46.0 49.9 4.1 -41.8
‘Decrease’ in Cost of Finance is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table S1 are applicable here.

Table S7: Assessment and Expectation for Salary/Wages
(Percentage responses)
Quarter Assessment Expectation
Increase No Change Decrease Net response Increase No Change Decrease Net response
Q4:24-25 29.5 66.4 4.0 -25.5 55.7 43.7 0.6 -55.1
Q1:25-26 42.2 54.4 3.4 -38.8 61.9 37.7 0.4 -61.5
Q2:25-26 33.8 61.6 4.6 -29.1 43.6 55.5 0.9 -42.7
Q3:25-26 31.2 64.3 4.4 -26.8 51.9 46.9 1.2 -50.8
Q4:25-26 33.9 61.5 4.6 -29.2 51.9 47.0 1.1 -50.8
Q1:26-27         64.0 34.9 1.2 -62.8
‘Decrease’ in Salary/Wages is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table S1 are applicable here.

Table S8: Assessment and Expectation for Cost of Inputs
(Percentage responses)
Quarter Assessment Expectation
Increase No Change Decrease Net response Increase No Change Decrease Net response
Q4:24-25 41.2 54.2 4.5 -36.7 69.4 30.1 0.5 -68.9
Q1:25-26 41.4 53.1 5.5 -35.9 70.1 29.0 0.9 -69.2
Q2:25-26 43.7 51.7 4.6 -39.1 54.3 44.7 1.0 -53.2
Q3:25-26 40.0 54.7 5.3 -34.7 55.3 42.9 1.8 -53.5
Q4:25-26 40.2 55.1 4.7 -35.5 56.6 42.4 1.1 -55.5
Q1:26-27         59.7 39.6 0.8 -58.9
‘Decrease’ in Cost of Inputs is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table S1 are applicable here.

Table S9: Assessment and Expectation for Selling Price
(Percentage responses)
Quarter Assessment Expectation
Increase No Change Decrease Net response Increase No Change Decrease Net response
Q4:24-25 21.2 72.4 6.4 14.8 57.9 39.8 2.3 55.6
Q1:25-26 22.9 69.6 7.5 15.4 57.4 41.1 1.6 55.8
Q2:25-26 23.7 68.6 7.7 16.0 39.4 58.4 2.2 37.2
Q3:25-26 23.2 68.3 8.5 14.6 48.6 48.6 2.8 45.8
Q4:25-26 19.9 72.8 7.3 12.5 49.0 49.0 2.0 47.1
Q1:26-27         44.4 54.0 1.6 42.8
‘Increase’ in Selling Price is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table S1 are applicable here.

Table S10: Assessment and Expectation for Profit Margin
(Percentage responses)
Quarter Assessment Expectation
Increase No Change Decrease Net response Increase No Change Decrease Net response
Q4:24-25 21.2 65.1 13.6 7.6 52.6 43.7 3.7 48.9
Q1:25-26 24.4 59.3 16.3 8.1 53.0 43.3 3.7 49.3
Q2:25-26 29.0 56.4 14.6 14.4 39.2 56.1 4.6 34.6
Q3:25-26 25.4 57.6 16.9 8.5 54.8 40.3 4.9 49.9
Q4:25-26 23.7 61.6 14.7 9.0 49.4 46.3 4.3 45.1
Q1:26-27         44.9 49.5 5.6 39.3
‘Increase’ in Profit Margin is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table S1 are applicable here.

Table S11: Assessment and Expectation for Inventories
(Percentage responses)
Quarter Assessment Expectation
Increase No Change Decrease Net response Increase No Change Decrease Net response
Q4:24-25 26.5 65.6 7.9 18.6 55.0 43.6 1.4 53.6
Q1:25-26 22.8 68.6 8.6 14.3 56.1 41.9 2.0 54.1
Q2:25-26 26.7 64.2 9.1 17.6 41.9 55.3 2.9 39.0
Q3:25-26 28.6 62.9 8.5 20.1 55.4 42.0 2.6 52.7
Q4:25-26 25.0 67.5 7.5 17.5 49.9 47.5 2.6 47.3
Q1:26-27         42.4 54.6 2.9 39.5
‘Increase’ in Inventories is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table S1 are applicable here.

Table S12: Assessment and Expectation for Technical/Service Capacity
(Percentage responses)
Quarter Assessment Expectation
Increase No Change Decrease Net response Increase No Change Decrease Net response
Q4:24-25 22.0 73.2 4.8 17.1 64.3 35.0 0.7 63.6
Q1:25-26 23.3 73.0 3.7 19.7 62.7 37.3 0.0 62.7
Q2:25-26 28.4 65.7 5.9 22.4 46.0 53.7 0.3 45.7
Q3:25-26 29.7 66.1 4.2 25.5 56.6 41.8 1.6 54.9
Q4:25-26 25.6 69.4 5.0 20.6 56.3 43.4 0.3 56.0
Q1:26-27         50.6 49.0 0.4 50.2
‘Increase’ in Technical/Service Capacity is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table S1 are applicable here.

Table S13: Assessment and Expectation for Physical Investment
(Percentage responses)
Quarter Assessment Expectation
Increase No Change Decrease Net response Increase No Change Decrease Net response
Q4:24-25 20.2 74.4 5.4 14.8 61.5 37.7 0.9 60.6
Q1:25-26 20.8 75.8 3.4 17.5 58.0 41.6 0.4 57.6
Q2:25-26 25.5 68.4 6.0 19.5 43.1 56.0 0.9 42.3
Q3:25-26 27.4 68.1 4.5 22.9 57.3 41.2 1.5 55.9
Q4:25-26 20.3 75.0 4.7 15.6 54.9 44.6 0.5 54.4
Q1:26-27         47.9 52.1 0.0 47.9
‘Increase’ in Physical Investment is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table S1 are applicable here.

Table S14: Estimated Spare Capacity for the Services Sector
Survey conducted during Reference quarter Response rate for the question on Spare Capacity
(per cent)		 Spare Capacity
(per cent)
Q3:2023-24 Q2:2023-24 74.0 11.8
Q4:2023-24 Q3:2023-24 74.8 11.7
Q1:2024-25 Q4:2023-24 78.8 11.3
Q2:2024-25 Q1:2024-25 71.5 11.2
Q3:2024-25 Q2:2024-25 79.9 10.6
Q4:2024-25 Q3:2024-25 83.7 10.9
Q1:2025-26 Q4:2024-25 65.7 11.2
Q2:2025-26 Q1:2025-26 80.0 10.7
Q3:2025-26 Q2:2025-26 77.4 10.1
Q4:2025-26 Q3:2025-26 79.6 9.0

Infrastructure Sector

Table I1: Assessment and Expectation for Overall Business Situation
(Percentage responses)@
Quarter Assessment Expectation
Better No Change Worse Net response# Better No Change Worse Net response
Q4:24-25 44.4 49.0 6.5 37.9 70.9 25.2 3.9 66.9
Q1:25-26 41.3 49.6 9.1 32.2 72.2 24.5 3.3 68.9
Q2:25-26 44.0 47.3 8.8 35.2 69.2 28.2 2.6 66.7
Q3:25-26 41.3 44.7 14.0 27.3 71.1 25.6 3.3 67.8
Q4:25-26 39.3 50.8 9.8 29.5 70.5 28.9 0.7 69.8
Q1:26-27         74.4 23.1 2.5 71.9
‘Increase’ in Overall business situation is optimistic.
@: Due to rounding off percentage may not add up to 100.
#: Net Response (NR) is the difference of percentage of the respondents reporting optimism and that reporting pessimism. The range is -100 to 100. Any value greater than zero indicates expansion/ optimism and any value less than zero indicates contraction/ pessimism.

Table I2: Assessment and Expectation for Turnover
(Percentage responses)
Quarter Assessment Expectation
Increase No Change Decrease Net response Increase No Change Decrease Net response
Q4:24-25 45.5 46.1 8.4 37.0 72.7 24.2 3.1 69.5
Q1:25-26 46.2 42.0 11.8 34.5 75.2 20.9 3.9 71.2
Q2:25-26 46.7 41.3 12.0 34.8 69.2 26.5 4.3 65.0
Q3:25-26 43.0 42.4 14.6 28.5 75.6 18.9 5.6 70.0
Q4:25-26 39.8 49.6 10.6 29.3 72.0 26.0 2.0 70.0
Q1:26-27         73.8 21.3 4.9 68.9
‘Increase’ in Turnover is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table I1 are applicable here.

Table I3: Assessment and Expectation for Full-time Employees
(Percentage responses)
Quarter Assessment Expectation
Increase No Change Decrease Net response Increase No Change Decrease Net response
Q4:24-25 29.9 63.6 6.5 23.4 48.4 48.4 3.1 45.3
Q1:25-26 22.7 70.6 6.7 16.0 61.2 37.5 1.3 59.9
Q2:25-26 28.4 61.4 10.2 18.2 56.5 41.7 1.7 54.8
Q3:25-26 33.3 57.3 9.3 24.0 49.4 46.0 4.6 44.8
Q4:25-26 28.7 60.7 10.7 18.0 59.1 40.9 0.0 59.1
Q1:26-27         58.7 39.7 1.7 57.0
‘Increase’ in Full-time Employees is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table I1 are applicable here.

Table I4: Assessment and Expectation for Part-time Employees
(Percentage responses)
Quarter Assessment Expectation
Increase No Change Decrease Net response Increase No Change Decrease Net response
Q4:24-25 31.5 65.4 3.1 28.5 62.0 34.0 4.0 58.0
Q1:25-26 19.1 75.5 5.3 13.8 62.8 34.1 3.1 59.7
Q2:25-26 23.7 69.7 6.6 17.1 66.3 31.5 2.2 64.1
Q3:25-26 27.5 63.4 9.2 18.3 50.7 44.0 5.3 45.3
Q4:25-26 27.1 62.6 10.3 16.8 63.5 34.9 1.6 61.9
Q1:26-27         60.4 38.7 0.9 59.4
‘Increase’ in Part-time Employees is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table I1 are applicable here.

Table I5: Assessment and Expectation for Availability of Finance
(Percentage responses)
Quarter Assessment Expectation
Improve No Change Worsen Net response Improve No Change Worsen Net response
Q4:24-25 34.0 59.5 6.5 27.5 60.8 37.6 1.6 59.2
Q1:25-26 22.7 68.1 9.2 13.4 71.8 26.2 2.0 69.8
Q2:25-26 41.3 51.1 7.6 33.7 63.5 34.8 1.7 61.7
Q3:25-26 36.7 52.0 11.3 25.3 65.9 30.8 3.3 62.6
Q4:25-26 27.9 64.8 7.4 20.5 62.4 36.9 0.7 61.7
Q1:26-27         61.2 37.2 1.7 59.5
‘Improve’ in Availability of Finance is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table I1 are applicable here.

Table I6: Assessment and Expectation for Cost of Finance
(Percentage responses)
Quarter Assessment Expectation
Increase No Change Decrease Net response Increase No Change Decrease Net response
Q4:24-25 40.1 49.3 10.5 -29.6 60.7 36.9 2.5 -58.2
Q1:25-26 25.0 65.8 9.2 -15.8 68.2 26.4 5.4 -62.8
Q2:25-26 33.8 57.5 8.8 -25.0 60.5 35.1 4.4 -56.1
Q3:25-26 39.4 49.3 11.3 -28.2 57.7 32.1 10.3 -47.4
Q4:25-26 26.3 61.0 12.7 -13.6 60.3 34.8 5.0 -55.3
Q1:26-27         56.8 35.6 7.6 -49.2
‘Decrease’ in Cost of Finance is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table I1 are applicable here.

Table I7: Assessment and Expectation for Salary/Wages
(Percentage responses)
Quarter Assessment Expectation
Increase No Change Decrease Net response Increase No Change Decrease Net response
Q4:24-25 35.9 61.4 2.6 -33.3 47.6 52.4 0.0 -47.6
Q1:25-26 30.0 65.0 5.0 -25.0 66.7 32.7 0.7 -66.0
Q2:25-26 28.3 69.6 2.2 -26.1 63.5 34.8 1.7 -61.7
Q3:25-26 32.0 63.3 4.7 -27.3 48.4 49.5 2.2 -46.2
Q4:25-26 27.9 65.6 6.6 -21.3 58.4 41.6 0.0 -58.4
Q1:26-27         64.5 35.5 0.0 -64.5
‘Decrease’ in Salary/Wages is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table I1 are applicable here.

Table I8: Assessment and Expectation for Cost of Inputs
(Percentage responses)
Quarter Assessment Expectation
Increase No Change Decrease Net response Increase No Change Decrease Net response
Q4:24-25 52.3 43.0 4.6 -47.7 70.4 29.6 0.0 -70.4
Q1:25-26 39.8 53.1 7.1 -32.7 74.3 22.4 3.3 -71.1
Q2:25-26 52.7 42.9 4.4 -48.4 74.3 22.9 2.8 -71.6
Q3:25-26 55.6 38.2 6.3 -49.3 60.0 37.8 2.2 -57.8
Q4:25-26 45.4 47.1 7.6 -37.8 70.9 27.0 2.1 -68.8
Q1:26-27         72.9 24.6 2.5 -70.3
‘Decrease’ in Cost of Inputs is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table I1 are applicable here.

Table I9: Assessment and Expectation for Selling Price
(Percentage responses)
Quarter Assessment Expectation
Increase No Change Decrease Net response Increase No Change Decrease Net response
Q4:24-25 30.1 65.4 4.5 25.6 56.4 43.6 0.0 56.4
Q1:25-26 22.9 67.6 9.5 13.3 62.9 36.4 0.8 62.1
Q2:25-26 30.0 65.0 5.0 25.0 63.4 33.7 3.0 60.4
Q3:25-26 31.7 58.7 9.5 22.2 50.0 43.6 6.4 43.6
Q4:25-26 25.5 65.5 9.1 16.4 63.2 34.4 2.4 60.8
Q1:26-27         59.6 38.5 1.8 57.8
‘Increase’ in Selling Price is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table I1 are applicable here.

Table I10: Assessment and Expectation for Profit Margin
(Percentage responses)
Quarter Assessment Expectation
Increase No Change Decrease Net response Increase No Change Decrease Net response
Q4:24-25 27.5 61.4 11.1 16.3 55.2 40.0 4.8 50.4
Q1:25-26 23.3 60.3 16.4 6.9 61.8 34.2 3.9 57.9
Q2:25-26 35.6 52.2 12.2 23.3 55.7 40.0 4.3 51.3
Q3:25-26 30.9 51.7 17.4 13.4 53.9 39.3 6.7 47.2
Q4:25-26 23.3 59.2 17.5 5.8 67.8 27.5 4.7 63.1
Q1:26-27         57.5 35.8 6.7 50.8
‘Increase’ in Profit Margin is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table I1 are applicable here.

Table I11: Assessment and Expectation for Inventories
(Percentage responses)
Quarter Assessment Expectation
Increase No Change Decrease Net response Increase No Change Decrease Net response
Q4:24-25 37.2 52.4 10.3 26.9 62.4 35.9 1.7 60.7
Q1:25-26 24.8 67.3 8.0 16.8 74.1 22.4 3.5 70.6
Q2:25-26 39.7 51.3 9.0 30.8 62.7 32.7 4.5 58.2
Q3:25-26 33.1 55.4 11.5 21.6 59.7 35.1 5.2 54.5
Q4:25-26 26.3 58.5 15.3 11.0 66.9 29.4 3.7 63.2
Q1:26-27         61.9 33.9 4.2 57.6
‘Increase’ in Inventories is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table I1 are applicable here.

Table I12: Assessment and Expectation for Technical/Service Capacity
(Percentage responses)
Quarter Assessment Expectation
Increase No Change Decrease Net response Increase No Change Decrease Net response
Q4:24-25 34.8 62.6 2.6 32.2 68.8 30.0 1.3 67.5
Q1:25-26 20.7 73.2 6.1 14.6 72.6 27.4 0.0 72.6
Q2:25-26 29.4 66.2 4.4 25.0 72.2 26.6 1.3 70.9
Q3:25-26 29.6 62.6 7.8 21.7 59.1 39.4 1.5 57.6
Q4:25-26 25.0 68.0 7.0 18.0 70.3 28.8 0.9 69.4
Q1:26-27         62.2 37.8 0.0 62.2
‘Increase’ in Technical/Service Capacity is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table I1 are applicable here.

Table I13: Assessment and Expectation for Physical Investment
(Percentage responses)
Quarter Assessment Expectation
Increase No Change Decrease Net response Increase No Change Decrease Net response
Q4:24-25 34.1 63.4 2.4 31.7 71.1 28.9 0.0 71.1
Q1:25-26 25.0 70.2 4.8 20.2 73.8 26.2 0.0 73.8
Q2:25-26 33.8 63.2 2.9 30.9 77.8 22.2 0.0 77.8
Q3:25-26 32.2 60.9 7.0 25.2 68.2 30.3 1.5 66.7
Q4:25-26 33.7 59.4 6.9 26.7 72.6 27.4 0.0 72.6
Q1:26-27         71.7 28.3 0.0 71.7
‘Increase’ in Physical Investment is optimistic. Footnotes @ and # given in Table I1 are applicable here.

1 The survey results reflect the respondents’ views, which are not necessarily shared by the Reserve Bank.

2 Results of the previous survey round were released on the Bank’s website on February 06, 2026.

3 The survey was conducted during March 05-18, 2026, in which 258 services firms responded.

4 Net Response (NR) is the difference between the percentage of respondents reporting optimism and those reporting pessimism. It ranges between -100 to 100. Positive value indicates expansion/optimism and negative value indicates contraction/pessimism. In other words, NR = (I – D); where, I is the percentage response of ‘Increase/optimism’, D is the percentage response of ‘Decrease/pessimism’ and E is the percentage response as ‘no change/ equal’ (i.e., I+D+E=100). For example, increase in turnover is optimism whereas decrease in cost of inputs is optimism.