Manufacturing sector growth falls to 5-month low in March: PMI
3 April 2018 5:21 PM GMT
New Delhi: India's manufacturing sector activity fell to a five-month low in March, as new business orders rose at a slower pace, and firms showed little appetite for recruitment, says a monthly survey.
The Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), fell from 52.1 in February to a five-month low of 51.0 in March, indicating the slowest improvement in operating conditions recorded by the survey since last October.
This is the eighth consecutive month that the index remained above the 50-point-mark. In PMI parlance, a print above 50 means expansion, while a score below that denotes contraction. On the employment front, firms reduced their payroll numbers for the first time in eight months, albeit at a fractional pace. Meanwhile, business sentiment remained weak, reflecting some concerns regarding business prospects over the next 12 months.
On the prices front, the survey noted that the recent "build-up of inflationary pressures eased in March, with softer increases in both input costs and output prices recorded".
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