37% Indian CFOs to Spend More on Travel & Entertainment: Amex Survey
Nearly 37 percent of the CFOs surveyed by Amex said that they are likely to spend more on T&E than last year, whereas 50 percent maintained that they are likely to keep the spending same as last year.
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Indian finance executives remain optimistic about the Indian economy and are likely to increase spending on travel and entertainment (T&E), invest in improving administrative process efficiencies and invest on mobile technology and hardware and infrastructure in 2018 to help meet their business priorities. That’s what the 11th Edition of the Global Business & Spending Outlook Survey, commissioned by American Express and conducted by Institutional Investor Thought Leadership Studio, suggested. American Express is a global services company, providing customers with access to products, insights, and experiences that enrich lives and build business success and through its global commercial services division, it offers a wide range of payment and lending products to help businesses and organizations of all sizes gain financial savings, control, and efficiency.
Nearly 37 percent of the CFOs surveyed by Amex said that they are likely to spend more on T&E than last year, whereas 50 percent maintained that they are likely to keep the spending same as last year.
The annual cross-industry survey conducted among 870 senior executives across 21 countries with worldwide revenue of more than $500 million, states that 33 percent of the Indian CFOs surveyed are likely to spend more on transportation/logistics and 53 percent on hardware and infrastructure while half of the senior financial executives (50 percent) aim to increase spending on mobile technology. About 40 percent of the CFOs surveyed said that they are likely to invest more than last year in improving administrative process efficiency (e.g, streamlining financial, account payables, or procurement process) to help meet business objectives.
Interestingly, as high as 90 percent of the senior finance executives felt that improving cash and working capital management (including payables, receivables, and inventories) is more important for their businesses this year as compared to last year. Over 60 percent of the executives said that use of credit (e.g. revolving credit lines, corporate card, “float”) and ability to negotiate better payments terms on payables and receivables as well as volume discounts on purchases with suppliers and customers would yield substantial financial benefit to the company.
Saru Kaushal, vice president, and general manager, Global Commercial Services, American Express Banking Corp., India, said that India is leading the way in terms of both business confidence and investments. Efficiency has become the keyword as companies take a back-to-basics approach and focusing on the fundamentals – better serving customers and meeting their needs, developing new products, entering new markets and prioritizing business transformation and innovation. Businesses are reiterating the need for increasing spend on T&E, optimizing cash flow and using it judiciously to grow and protect the business. American Express helps companies seamlessly integrate their expense management policies and payments on our Corporate Cards program, she said.