More Stories

Informist, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025

 

--India Dec flash manufacturing PMI 55.7 vs 56.6 Nov final 
--India Dec flash services PMI activity index 59.1 vs 59.8 Nov final 
--India Dec flash composite PMI output index 58.9 vs 59.7 Nov final 

 

NEW DELHI – India's private sector activity in December expanded at the slowest pace since February because of a slowdown in the manufacturing sector. The HSBC Flash Composite Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 58.9 in December from 59.7 in November, S&P Global said Tuesday. The momentum in services sector growth in December was also less than the previous month, S&P Global, which compiles the PMI, said in a release. 

 

The flash manufacturing PMI fell to 55.7 in December from the final print of 56.6 in November. The flash services PMI fell to 59.1 in December from 59.8 last month. A PMI reading of more than 50 denotes expansion in activity from the previous month, while a print below 50 indicates contraction.

 

"The HSBC Flash India PMI ended 2025 in positive fashion, completing a year of marked growth for the private sector," Andrew Harker, economics director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said in the release. "Rates of expansion in output and new orders eased in December, but remained sharp nonetheless. Firms were helped by inflationary pressures remaining muted as the year drew to a close."

 

According to S&P Global, the weaker increases in output reflected easing of growth in new orders, which, however, continued to rise sharply amid reports of improving customer demand. 

 

Looking specifically at manufacturing, the compiler said that weaker rises in output and new orders were accompanied by softer expansions in employment and stocks of purchases, plus a greater shortening of suppliers' delivery times. The latest reading of manufacturing PMI – a weighted average of the new orders, output, employment, suppliers' delivery times and stocks of purchases indices – signalled the smallest improvement in the health of the manufacturing sector for two years, even though it was better than the series average.

 

According to the release, anecdotal evidence from companies across both manufacturing and services sectors suggested that their current workforce numbers were generally sufficient to keep on top of new order inflows. As a result, employment levels were left broadly unchanged in December, with the fractional increase in workforce numbers the least marked since February 2024. "Manufacturing staffing levels were up marginally, while services employment was broadly stable," it said. "As noted, companies were still able to keep on top of workloads and posted a third consecutive month of broadly stable backlogs of work."

 

Inflationary pressures also remained muted in December, with input costs increasing modestly and at a pace that was only slightly faster than the near five-and-a-half-year low posted in November. This meant mild increase across both the manufacturing and services sectors, and led to output prices also increasing modestly at the second-slowest pace in the past nine months.

 

"Services charges rose at a slightly sharper pace than was seen in November, but the rate of selling price inflation in manufacturing eased for the second month running and was the weakest since March," S&P said. 

 

On the outlook for business activity in 2026, companies remained confident that growth would be maintained, but optimism continued to soften, S&P said. "In fact, sentiment dipped for the third month running in December to the lowest since July 2022." The drop in confidence was centred on the services sector as manufacturing optimism ticked up from the previous survey period.

 

As per the compiler, respondents indicated that they expect a steady inflow of new business to support growth of output over the coming year, with high quality products and marketing activities central to positive expectations. On the other hand, softening of growth at the end of the year led to more muted optimism, it said.  End

 

Reported by Priyasmita Dutta

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2025. All rights reserved.