India's manufacturing growth hits eight-month high in March

NEW DELHI: Manufacturing sector growth in India surged to an eight-month high in March as a faster upturn in new orders underpinned a sharper increase in output, according to an HSBC report released on Wednesday.

- 

The acceleration in March came despite a mild slowdown in international order growth.

Buoyant demand led companies to tap into their inventories to meet increased client appe-tite, resulting in the most rapid decline in finished goods stocks since January 2022.

Firms aimed to counter declining stock levels by executing additional input purchases for their produc-tion processes at the quickest pace seen in seven months, the report compiled by S&P Global states.

Pranjul Bhandari, Chief India Economist at HSBC, said: “India registered a 56.1 manufacturing PMI in March, up substantially from 56.9 during the previ-ous month. Although international orders slightly slowed, overall demand momentum remained robust, and the new orders index recorded an eight-month high of 61.5.”

“Business expectations remained fairly optimistic, with around 30 per cent of survey participants foreseeing greater output volumes in the year ahead, compared to less than 2 per cent that anticipate a contraction,” Bhandari added.