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PDF - Services and Infrastructure Outlook Survey for Q3:2025-26 ()
Date : Feb 06, 2026
Services and Infrastructure Outlook Survey for Q3:2025-26

Today, the Reserve Bank released the results of 47th round of its quarterly Services and Infrastructure Outlook Survey (SIOS) conducted during Q3:2025-26. 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, 1,004 companies provided their assessment for Q3:2025-26 and expectations for Q4:2025-26 as well as outlook on key parameters for the subsequent two quarters.

Highlights:

A. Services Sector

Assessment for Q3:2025-26

  • Service sector firms’ assessment on overall business situation and their turnover during Q3:2025-26 remained positive though tempered a bit from that in the previous quarter (Chart 1 and Table A).

  • Firms assessed moderation regarding pressures from input costs and salary outgo during Q3:2025-26.

  • Sentiments on growth in selling prices and profit margins moderated but remained positive.

Expectations for Q4:2025-26

  • Respondents remained optimistic on demand conditions in Q4:2025-26, though their optimism regarding overall business situation, turnover and job landscape is marginally lower vis-à-vis the previous quarter (Chart 1 and Table A).

  • Pressure emanating from input costs is likely to rise during Q4:2025-26; however, pressure stemming from finance costs is expected to ease.

  • Services firms expect selling prices to increase; profit margin is likely to remain positive during Q4:2025-26.

Expectations for Q1:2026-27 and Q2:2026-27

  • Services companies expect improvement in the overall business situation, turnover and employment in the first half of the next financial year (Table C).

  • Input cost pressures are likely to persist for services firms; with sequential rise in selling prices.

Chart 1: Turnover of Services Companies -Net Response

  • Responding services firms reported that with their existing resources they were able to provide 10.1 per cent additional services during Q2:2025-26 (Table S14).

B. Infrastructure Sector

Assessment for Q3:2025-26

  • Infrastructure companies reported positive assessment of overall business situation and their turnover, though their sentiments moderated vis-à-vis the previous quarter (Chart 2 and Table B).

  • Sentiments on both full-time and part-time employment improved.

  • Infrastructure firms gauged higher pressures stemming from input costs, salary outgo and cost of finance.

  • Responding firms reported lower growth in selling prices and profit margins as compared to the previous quarter.

Expectations for Q4:2025-26

  • Infrastructure firms remain highly optimistic on overall business situation and demand conditions in Q4:2025-26 (Chart 2 and Table B).

  • Cost pressures are likely to rise further, and infrastructure firms expect improvement in the growth of selling prices and profit margins.

Expectations for Q1:2026-27 and Q2:2026-27

  • Responding firms expect sequential improvement in demand conditions till Q2:2026-27 (Table D).

  • Input cost pressures are likely to persist in the near term and growth in selling prices are expected to remain at an elevated level.

Chart 2: Turnover of Infrastructure Companies -Net Response

Summary of Net Responses3 on Survey Parameters

Table A: Services Sector
(per cent)
Parameters Assessment period Expectations period
Q2:2025-26* Q3:2025-26 Q3:2025-26* Q4:2025-26
Overall Business Situation 37.2 33.0 73.2 70.2
Turnover 37.7 32.5 74.0 69.4
Full-time Employees 20.0 20.8 49.5 46.1
Part-time Employees 18.3 18.5 48.4 45.7
Availability of Finance 27.2 22.9 57.8 52.8
Cost of Finance -23.3 -25.4 -47.6 -45.6
Salary & Wages -29.1 -26.8 -50.8 -50.8
Cost of Inputs -39.1 -34.7 -53.5 -55.5
Selling Price 16.0 14.6 45.8 47.1
Profit Margin 14.4 8.5 49.9 45.1
Inventories 17.6 20.1 52.7 47.3
Technical/Service Capacity 22.4 25.5 54.9 56.0
Physical Investment 19.5 22.9 55.9 54.4
*: Based on the previous round’s response.

Table B: Infrastructure Sector
(per cent)
Parameters Assessment period Expectations period
Q2:2025-26* Q3:2025-26 Q3:2025-26* Q4:2025-26
Overall Business Situation 35.2 27.3 67.8 69.8
Turnover 34.8 28.5 70.0 70.0
Full-time Employees 18.2 24.0 44.8 59.1
Part-time Employees 17.1 18.3 45.3 61.9
Availability of Finance 33.7 25.3 62.6 61.7
Cost of Finance -25.0 -28.2 -47.4 -55.3
Salary & Wages -26.1 -27.3 -46.2 -58.4
Cost of Inputs -48.4 -49.3 -57.8 -68.8
Selling Price 25.0 22.2 43.6 60.8
Profit Margin 23.3 13.4 47.2 63.1
Inventories 30.8 21.6 54.5 63.2
Technical/Service Capacity 25.0 21.7 57.6 69.4
Physical Investment 30.9 25.2 66.7 72.6
*: 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 46 Round 47
Q3:2025-26 Q4:2025-26 Q1:2026-27 Q2:2026-27
Overall Business Situation 73.2 70.2 71.3 72.5
Turnover 74.0 69.4 73.3 73.3
Full-time Employees 49.5 46.1 51.2 50.3
Part-time Employees 48.4 45.7 50.9 50.6
Cost of Inputs -53.5 -55.5 -56.3 -54.9
Selling Price 45.8 47.1 50.3 51.2

Table D: Infrastructure Sector
Parameter Round 46 Round 47
Q3:2025-26 Q4:2025-26 Q1:2026-27 Q2:2026-27
Overall Business Situation 67.8 69.8 70.9 73.6
Turnover 70.0 70.0 71.1 72.5
Full-time Employees 44.8 59.1 56.5 57.8
Part-time Employees 45.3 61.9 61.4 62.2
Cost of Inputs -57.8 -68.8 -66.7 -66.7
Selling Price 43.6 60.8 66.7 65.0

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
Q3:24-25 42.8 48.3 8.9 33.9 70.1 27.8 2.1 68.0
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         71.9 26.5 1.7 70.2
‘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
Q3:24-25 44.8 44.0 11.2 33.5 71.9 25.2 3.0 68.9
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         71.9 25.6 2.5 69.4
‘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
Q3:24-25 34.5 58.7 6.8 27.8 45.8 52.4 1.8 44.0
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         47.4 51.2 1.3 46.1
‘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
Q3:24-25 29.7 64.4 5.9 23.8 54.1 43.8 2.1 52.1
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         47.7 50.2 2.0 45.7
‘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
Q3:24-25 34.7 58.9 6.4 28.3 51.4 47.2 1.4 50.1
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         54.3 44.3 1.5 52.8
‘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
Q3:24-25 38.9 57.7 3.4 -35.4 55.9 42.5 1.6 -54.3
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         48.9 47.7 3.3 -45.6
‘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
Q3:24-25 33.5 63.5 3.0 -30.4 45.0 54.5 0.5 -44.5
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         51.9 47.0 1.1 -50.8
‘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
Q3:24-25 46.2 50.4 3.4 -42.7 65.6 33.1 1.3 -64.2
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         56.6 42.4 1.1 -55.5
‘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
Q3:24-25 29.0 64.1 6.9 22.2 50.4 47.3 2.3 48.0
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         49.0 49.0 2.0 47.1
‘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
Q3:24-25 28.4 58.2 13.4 15.0 42.3 53.7 3.9 38.4
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         49.4 46.3 4.3 45.1
‘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
Q3:24-25 29.8 64.6 5.5 24.3 47.7 51.3 1.1 46.6
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         49.9 47.5 2.6 47.3
‘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
Q3:24-25 32.4 64.2 3.4 29.0 58.6 41.1 0.3 58.3
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         56.3 43.4 0.3 56.0
‘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
Q3:24-25 30.2 66.4 3.4 26.8 57.0 42.7 0.3 56.7
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         54.9 44.6 0.5 54.4
‘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)
Q2:2023-24 Q1:2023-24 84.3 12.3
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

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
Q3:24-25 40.2 47.2 12.6 27.6 70.3 26.8 2.9 67.4
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         70.5 28.9 0.7 69.8
‘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
Q3:24-25 44.1 42.5 13.4 30.7 73.2 24.6 2.2 71.0
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         72.0 26.0 2.0 70.0
‘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
Q3:24-25 30.7 60.6 8.7 22.0 41.5 56.3 2.2 39.3
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         59.1 40.9 0.0 59.1
‘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
Q3:24-25 30.3 61.6 8.1 22.2 54.3 40.2 5.4 48.9
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         63.5 34.9 1.6 61.9
‘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
Q3:24-25 34.1 57.9 7.9 26.2 55.1 44.1 0.7 54.4
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         62.4 36.9 0.7 61.7
‘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
Q3:24-25 37.3 52.4 10.3 -27.0 63.5 33.3 3.2 -60.3
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         60.3 34.8 5.0 -55.3
‘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
Q3:24-25 34.9 61.1 4.0 -31.0 43.1 56.9 0.0 -43.1
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         58.4 41.6 0.0 -58.4
‘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
Q3:24-25 48.0 45.6 6.4 -41.6 70.8 29.2 0.0 -70.8
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         70.9 27.0 2.1 -68.8
‘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
Q3:24-25 27.0 63.1 9.9 17.1 52.7 44.5 2.7 50.0
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         63.2 34.4 2.4 60.8
‘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
Q3:24-25 28.0 55.2 16.8 11.2 45.7 49.3 5.1 40.6
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         67.8 27.5 4.7 63.1
‘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
Q3:24-25 35.6 56.8 7.6 28.0 59.1 38.2 2.7 56.4
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         66.9 29.4 3.7 63.2
‘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
Q3:24-25 32.9 62.0 5.1 27.8 72.5 27.5 0.0 72.5
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         70.3 28.8 0.9 69.4
‘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
Q3:24-25 32.6 61.6 5.8 26.7 75.3 24.7 0.0 75.3
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         72.6 27.4 0.0 72.6
‘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 October 01, 2025.

3 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.