India Manufacturing Activity Growth Picks Up

(RTTNews) - India's manufacturing activity growth picked up in February as production grew the most in five months amid faster sales, survey results from S&P Global showed on Friday.

The HSBC final manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 56.9 in February from 56.5 in the previous month. The flash reading was 56.7. A score above 50.0 indicates expansion.

The score suggested the strongest growth in manufacturing since September 2023.

Production was lifted in tandem with another sharp increase in new orders. Led by the capital goods category, manufacturing output grew the most in five months.

Factory orders expanded at the fastest pace since September and new export orders advanced the most in nearly two years. On the price front, survey showed that input cost inflation subsided to the lowest in the current sequence of inflation that stretches back to August 2020. Prices charged by manufacturers grew at the joint-weakest since March 2023.

Employment in manufacturing was little-changed as payroll numbers were sufficient for current requirements.

Further, optimism among manufacturers was the second highest since December 2022.