Business activity falls to lowest in 14 mths

India's private sector business activity, as seen in the Flash Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), fell to the lowest since India was included in the release, pulled down by slow growth in output and receding intakes in new business orders in the services sector.

- Auhona Mukherjee

NEW DELHI:

The HSBC Flash India Composite PMI, which is a seasonally adjusted measure of manufacturing and service sector activity, fell to 57.9 in January, down from the final reading of 59.2 in December, according to data released by S&P Global on Friday.

Flash PMI values are released a few days ahead of the actual PMI numbers, and include 80%-90% of the responses used in the calculation of the final PMI readings.

India became the eighth country to have a Flash PMI indicator in January 2024. Since then, this is the first time the Flash PMI number has been below 58.

To be sure, the flash PMI number was above its long-run average of 54.7 and continued to remain above the 50-mark, which indicates an expansion over the previous month's activity levels.