It's been more than two years since an unknown virus changed the world as we knew it. Last year, a second wave of the pandemic devastated the globe as well as large parts of India. Businesses are slowly limping back to their feet but less than 30 percent believe operations are "completely normal" according to a CNBC-TV18, CII poll among CEOs.

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2021 also saw India's Startups come of age. New-age companies like Zomato, Nykaa, Paytm, and many more took Dalal Street by storm.

On Startups Uday Kotak, MD & CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank said, “I believe that the startup ecosystem is broadly robust and deep. What we need to ensure is that as this system evolves, we avoid irrationality. We don't take decisions that don't make sense or common sense and ultimately, a firm must produce cash flows, even if they are in the future. We must encourage entrepreneurship because change is inevitable. Companies must be able to have a strong business model.”

Read Here: Rising interest rates and economic growth can go hand in hand: Uday Kotak

As 2021 drew to a close, inflation reared its ugly head once again around the world. The U.S. Federal Reserve has signalled its intent to tighten monetary policy to tame inflation sending stock markets across the world into a tizzy.

A PwC survey shows 99 percent of India's CEOs foresee better economic growth this year. 94 percent of global CEOs are optimistic about global economic growth improving this year compared to 77 percent last year.

On India growth, Zarin Daruwala, Cluster CEO-India & S Asia Mkts at Standard Chartered Bank said, “I am in the cautiously optimistic camp. The next one or two years will be about how governments manage the fiscal deficit as well as using the monetary policy in a way that growth is sort of enabled, but at the same time, there is prudence in how you manage the fiscal deficit.”

On supply chain issues Laxman Narasimhan, CEO of Reckitt Benckiser said, “I don't think it has fully worked itself through. I think if you just look at container movements around the world, we still have dislocations. We hope that over the course of the year things will normalise get better. But it does depend a bit on how the pandemic shapes itself because it has a big impact on China's supply chains. It has a big impact on ports. We are all learning how to live but I think it will be a sort of an evolution over the course of the year till it gets better over time.”

On rising input and logistics costs Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Executive Chairperson of Biocon said, “Another aspect of the pharma industry at the moment is the challenges we have in terms of increased input costs and logistics cost. I think that inflation is also something that will add to healthcare costs. So we need to find a balancing measure to see how we can address that because otherwise, we are going to see inflationary trends in terms of our products and services.”

Read Here: Rising input and logistics costs could weigh on pharma market: Kiran M Shaw

On digitisation Salil Parekh, CEO of Infosys said, “Globally large businesses are completely focused on their digital transformation, leveraging digital technology to connect with the consumers, employees, and the ecosystem. So that is the driver today for all of the digital work that is going on. What we are seeing is that this move is fundamental and everyone is moving to it. So this approach of converting all of the activities to digital activity is what is going to drive the next phase of growth across the world.”

On inflation Suresh Narayanan, CMD of Nestle India said, “I am also in the camp of being cautiously optimistic. One of the issues and since my company represents a largely agro-based supply source, I think one of the things that is really biting us is inflation and inflation in commodities is not just happening here locally but also happening globally.”

On interest rates Munish Varma, Managing Partner at SoftBank said, “Interest rates will go up and as rates do go up there is a recalibration on what you are willing to pay for cash flows that are going to come to you in the future. Public markets have reacted to that and have reacted in quite a significant manner not just in India but in the US as well if you look at what has happened to fintech stocks and other fast-growing stocks. So public markets have taken into account that risk will go up and as a consequence, those valuations have come down.”

Watch the accompanying video for more.

(Edited by : Abhishek Jha)

First Published:Jan 25, 2022 7:10 PM IST