India’s manufacturing sector gathered pace and touched a six-month high in July amid stronger rise in new business orders, especially from overseas, but job worries remained, a Nikkei survey says.
The Nikkei India Manufacturing PMI — a composite single-figure indicator of manufacturing performance — rose to 52.7 in July from 51.3 in June, logging a six-month high, indicating improvement in manufacturing business conditions of the country.
Growth in India‘s manufacturing economy rebounded in July, with PMI rising since the prior month. This reflects stronger increases of new orders and output. Furthermore, the sector was boosted by the quickest expansion in export orders since February,” said Pollyanna De Lima, Economist at Markit, which compiles the data.
Despite the uptick in growth, Indian manufacturers continued to cut down workforce in July. Around 96 per cent of respondents reported no change in staff strength from the levels in the prior month.
“Although the latest data suggest that the manufacturing upturn gained traction, worries regarding the labour market persist,” Lima said,
Adding that “continued job shedding highlights the concern felt by businesses towards the outlook, with firms failing to increase workforce numbers to any great extent since early 2014“.
On prices, the survey said the rate of inflation was only marginal and well below the series long-run trend.
ref:indiantimes
