Global business leaders are confident of witnessing growth at pre-financial crisis levels in 2011, driven by the potential in emerging economies like India, a survey released said

The CEOs consider China as the most important country for future growth, followed by the US, Brazil and India, as per the PwC survey. The CEOs said they considered China the most important country for future growth. China was named by 39% of CEOs, followed by the US, 21%; Brazil, 19%; and India, 18%. Also, China, the US and India were seen as the most important future sources for products and raw materials.

As per consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers's 14th Annual Global CEO survey, out of 1,201 CEOs, 48 per cent said they are confident of growth in the next 12 months. In contrast, only 31 per cent of the CEOs expected to see growth in the previous survey.

“The post-recession global economy is recovering on two- tiers. Emerging economies like China, India and Brazil are growing at rates that far surpass the developed nations,” PwC International Chairman Dennis M Nally said.

Regionally, most CEOs said they expect their operations in Asia to see the most expansion in the next 12 months, followed by Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

“It is indeed exciting to note that in the post-crisis scenario, global CEOs are looking at emerging economies like India and China as important contributors in their growth,” PwC India Chairman Deepak Kapoor said.

“The pace at which these economies have been growing even during the crisis period, owing to strong domestic demand, is phenomenal and it is this resilience that will hold us in good stead in the long term,” he added.

However, uncertain or volatile economic growth, individual governments' response to fiscal deficit and over- regulation, besides problems like exchange rate volatility, unstable capital markets and protectionism, have been cited as potential threats to growth, it said.

Read the report