MUMBAI:
Economic growth across India’s private sector continued to strengthen in April. According to the HSBC Flash India PMI data, positive demand trends fueled new business intakes and output. In both cases, rates of expansion were the fastest in close to 14 years. The manufacturing industry led the latest upturn, as was the case in March, although softening growth at goods producers compared with accelerations at service providers.
Sustained increases in new orders added pressure on the capacity of manufacturing firms and their service counterparts, which in turn underpinned recruitment. Job growth was notably stronger among the former. The survey’s price measures showed slower rates of inflation for both aggregate input costs and output charges.
Rising from 61.8 in March to 62.2 in April, the headline HSBC Flash India Composite PMI Output Index a seasonally adjusted index that measures the month-on-month change in the combined output of India’s manufacturing and service sectors indicated the fastest rate of increase in aggregate business activity since mid-2010. Survey participants overwhelmingly attributed the expansion to buoyant demand from domestic and external clients.
Growth in India remained broad-based across the manufacturing and service sectors. The former saw the sharper rate of increase, albeit one that was softer than in March. In the service economy, business activity rose to the greatest extent in three months.
