Aided by stronger growth of new orders and lengthening delivery times, India’s manufacturing sector growth improved for the fourth consecutive month in April. The seasonally adjusted Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI)-a composite single-figure indicator of manufacturing performance- remained at 52.5 in April to match March’s reading.
The survey results showed that new export orders rose for the third month in a row, but the rate of expansion eased from March and was slight overall. Further, even though growth softened slightly since the preceding survey period, output expansion witnessed solid growth. The survey also found that stocks of finished goods dropped for the twenty-second month running during April. However, the rate of depletion slowed to the weakest in the year-to-date. It further noted that stocks of purchases continued to rise, albeit growth eased from the preceding survey period.
On inflation front, purchasing costs increased for the nineteenth straight month in April on the back of higher prices in metals, chemicals and plastics. The rate of cost inflation gathered pace since March and was above the average recorded over the current sequence of rises. Moreover, Less than 5 per cent of manufacturers raised their output prices in April, while almost 93 per cent signalled no change. Nonetheless, the pace of employment growth remained slight overall.