The students of Parul Institute of Management surveyed more than 500 companies, which participated in the recent exhibition on ‘Impact of slowdown on companies’.

According to the survey, of the total companies, more than 45 per cent are willing to use renewable energy sources to reduce costs. Over half of total companies are interested to adopt green solutions, while 44 per cent have resolved to reduce carbon footprint by disposal of wastewater by 23 per cent and proper disposal of waste, making computer energy smarter by 22 per cent.

The number of companies facing downturn, as per the survey, is 53 per cent.

Pratik Mavani, chief student coordinator, said, “The ratio of companies facing downturn and those that are not facing it is comparatively higher in large scale industries.”

The majority of companies reported that they have started facing downturn from August 2008. The information that triggered the companies to think that downturn was affecting them was decline in sales, which is found in small, medium and large companies, he added.

This was followed by various issues like human resource, marketing, finance and production. Of the total firms, more than 24 per cent had to decrease the number of employees and 30 per cent reduced travel costs.

Besides, 55 per cent firms faced decline in the marketing department and 16 per cent reduced advertising and marketing.