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Informist, Monday, Mar. 3, 2025

 

--India Feb manufacturing PMI 56.3 vs 57.7 in Jan

--India Feb manufacturing PMI of 56.3 lowest in 14 months

 

NEW DELHI – India's manufacturing sector activity expanded at the weakest pace in more than a year in February, with the HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index dropping to a 14-month low of 56.3, S&P Global said Monday.

 

At 56.3, the final number for February is the lowest since December 2023 and also lower than the flash figure of 57.1, released on Feb. 21. A PMI reading of more than 50 denotes expansion in activity, while a print below it shows contraction.

 

"Although output growth slowed to the weakest level since December 2023, overall momentum in India's manufacturing sector remained broadly positive in February," said Pranjul Bhandari, chief India economist at HSBC.

 

 

Even as the PMI cooled in February, manufacturers saw "sustained improvements" in demand, investment in technology, and the commissioning of new projects. New export orders continued to rise strongly, albeit at a softer pace than January's near 14-year high.

 

To meet the rise in orders, manufacturers hired more staff in February, with S&P Global remarking that the increase in job creation last month was second only to January's all-time high. As many as 10% of surveyed firms saw increased hiring activity, while only 1% of them cut jobs.

 

On the price front, input cost inflation eased to a one-year low in February. However, manufacturers continued to pass these on to customers more than proportionately, with the rise in prices charged little changed from January and above the increase in input costs.

 

The drop in manufacturing sector growth in February comes after the Indian statistics ministry said Friday that GDP growth in the final quarter of 2024 rose to 6.2% from 5.6% in Jul-Sept. While the pace of growth was only slightly lower than economists' expectations of 6.3%, manufacturing sector growth in particular was well below what was anticipated, edging up only to 3.5% from 2.1% in the previous quarter.  End

 

Reported by Siddharth Upasani

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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