India’s manufacturing sector activity in July was at its highest in eight months driven by an increase in business orders, according to the S&P Global India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index released on Monday.
The seasonally adjusted index increased from 53.9 in June to 56.4 in July. Overall, the score has improved for 13 consecutive months.
The purchasing managers’ index is an indicator of business activity in the manufacturing and services sectors. S&P Global said that it takes into account new orders, output, employment, suppliers’ delivery times and stocks of purchases to calculate the purchasing managers’ index.
A score above 50 indicates expansion while a score below 50 denotes contraction.
“The Indian manufacturing industry recorded a welcome combination of faster economic growth and softening inflation during July,” said Pollyanna De Lima, economics associate director at S&P Global Market Intelligence.
She added that the output expanded at the fastest pace since November as the aggregate new order intakes soared in July.
Meanwhile, job creation was subdued last month. A majority of firms – 98% – did not upgrade their workforce numbers. Another factor that constrained hiring activity was future uncertainty.
According to the survey, the business sentiment remained low as 96% of manufacturers predicted no change in output from current levels over the next 12 months.
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