NEW DELHI: Riding high on robust domestic demand, activity in the country’s manufacturing sector in April recorded the second fastest expansion in three and a half years as companies reported higher intake of new orders and scaled up production, a survey showed on Thursday.
Despite slowing a tad from 59.1 in March to 58.8 in April, the HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) signalled the second-best improvement in the health of the sector for three-and-a-half years. The PMI was comfortably above both the neutral mark of 50 and its long-run average (53.9). The 50-point mark separates expansion from contraction.
Since the lifting of Covid-19 pandemic-induced curbs, the sector has staged a smart recovery, thanks to robust domestic demand. The PMI survey is compiled by S&P Global from responses to questionnaires sent to purchasing managers in a panel of around 400 manufacturers.
