New Delhi: The country’s manufacturing sector performance further strengthened in February and touched a 14-month high driven by acceleration in sales, output and employment, a monthly survey showed on Friday. The Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 54.3 in February, from 53.9 in January, amid a robust improvement in business conditions. This is the 19th consecutive month that the manufacturing PMI remained above the 50-point mark. In PMI parlance, a print above 50 means expansion, while a score below that denotes contraction.
According to the survey, the February data reflected strongest improvement in business conditions since December 2017, sharpest rise in factory orders for 28 months and underpins faster increases in production and employment. “The Indian manufacturing sector made further progress midway through the final quarter of FY18, building on the accelerated upturn noted in January,” said Pollyanna De Lima, Principal Economist at IHS Markit and author of the report. Lima further noted that the upturn in employment was one of the best seen for six-and-a-half years, as goods producers sought to expand output capacities to meet strengthening demand from both domestic and external sources.
Spurt in PMI indicates strong inflow of new orders and strengthening of manufacturing sector growth, Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg said. “Manufacturing PMI at 54.3 in Feb is 14 month high and indicates strong inflow of new orders. Q4 2018-19 should mark further strengthening of manufacturing GVA and upward movement of GDP growth,” Garg said in a tweet. As per official estimate released on Thursday, India’s economic growth slipped to a 5-quarter low of 6.6 per cent in October-December period of 2018-19, mainly due to poor performance of farm, mining and manufacturing sectors.
