Growth in India’s manufacturing industry slowed to a six-month low in March as orders and output expanded at a weaker rate, but overall factory activity ran at a solid pace in the first quarter, a private survey showed on Tuesday.
New Delhi:
“Manufacturing sector expansion in India took a step back in March, with metrics for factory orders, production, exports, input buying and employment all moving lower. Still, growth was sustained on all fronts,” noted Pollyanna De Lima, principal economist at HIS Markit.
The Nikkei Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index, compiled by HIS Markit, fell to a six-month low of 52.6 in March from February’s 54.3, below a Reuters poll forecast of 53.9 but above the 50-mark separating growth from contraction for the 20th straight month. Underscoring that long stretch of growth in the sector, factory activity in the first three months of 2019 increased at its quickest quarterly average rate in more than six years.
“Manufacturing sector expansion in India took a step back in March, with metrics for factory orders, production, exports, input buying and employment all moving lower. Still, growth was sustained on all fronts,” noted Pollyanna De Lima, principal economist at HIS Markit.