The Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad’s (IIM-A’s) Business Inflation Expectations Survey (BIES), which provides ways to examine the amount of slack in the economy by polling a panel of business leaders, has said that around 40% of the firms in January 2024 are reporting profit margins to be ‘about normal’ or greater – significantly down from 48% reported in December 2023. Overall, the profit margins expectations have notably deteriorated, it added.