Services PMI Expands At Second-Fastest Pace In Over A Decade
A gauge of India's services sector expanded as new orders picked up and market conditions improved.
The India Services Business Activity Index, compiled by IHS Markit, stood at 58.1 in November compared with 58.4 in October, according to a media statement. A reading above 50 indicates expansion in business activity.
The recovery of the Indian services sector was extended to November, with a robust improvement in sales enabling the second-fastest rise in business activity in nearly ten-and-a-half years.Pollyanna De Lima, Economics Associate Director, IHS Markit
The Composite PMI Output Index, too, rose to 59.2 from 58.7 in the preceding month.
New business rose at a broadly similar rate to that in October. Successful marketing, strengthening demand and favourable market conditions aided sales growth, the statement said.
Although companies forecast higher business activity volumes over the course of the coming year, the expansion is expected to be restricted by price pressures.
Amid reports of higher fuel, labour, material, retail and transportation costs, average input prices rose further in November. The overall rate of inflation quickened from October, and was the second-strongest in almost a decade.
While a few firms transferred higher input costs through to their clients by lifting selling prices, majority kept their fees unchanged from October. As a result, output charges rose at a slower rate than in the prior month.
Backlogs fell for the fourth month running in November, albeit marginally. This general lack of pressure on capacities meant that employment levels were little-changed from October, with the respective index edging closer to the critical 50.0 threshold.
The Covid-19 pandemic and travel restrictions reportedly caused a further drop in international demand for Indian services. The latest fall in external sales was the twenty-first in successive months, although among the slowest over this period.
Although business confidence improved to a three-month high in November, the overall level of positive sentiment was well below its long-run average. Some companies expect demand to continue to trend higher, but several others were worried that elevated inflation could dampen the recovery.
-
Opinion | India at 38: From Innovation Overperformer to Innovation Powerhouse
India now has 453 VC-backed deep science startups, 18 of them late-stage, after 117 percent growth since 2020. Laurus Labs, at USD 9.3 billion, is the most valuable deep science company in any middle-income economy outside China.
-
Navigating Energy Crossroads: S Jaishankar's Call For Diversified Supply Chains At G20 Ministerial Meeting
As geopolitical fault lines continue to test maritime trade routes and commodity flows, Jaishankar's message remains pertinent: true economic resilience requires open markets, protected transit lines, and a genuine commitment to multilateral cooperation rather than coercion.
-
Indians Are Travelling, But Not Every Journey Is A Holiday | The Week In Whys
Pilgrims, patients and working women are the real travellers, and the system hasn't quite caught up with them.
-
Getting To Work Costs Women More | The Reason Why
It is not just about women paying more than men. It is about women paying much more in cities than in villages.
-
AI Bias In Investing Cannot Be Eliminated, But It Can Be Governed
Framing is a particularly important example as identical financial information presented in terms of gains rather than losses can lead an LLM to reach a different assessment.
-
Joining The Dots | Dark Skies, Steady Diya: Why Hope Holds This Diwali
With war, a weak rupee and foreign outflows weighing on sentiment, policymakers at the NDTV World Summit and market veterans at NDTV Profit Ignite: Diwali Edition offered the same advice: stay invested and filter out the noise.
-
The Curious Case of Equitas Small Finance Bank And A CEO Who Quit For Stock
PN Vasudevan believes persistent investor concerns over a perceived conflict of interest had become a governance overhang on Equitas Small Finance Bank's stock, even as the lender improved profitability and asset quality.
-
Talking Points This Week: AI Cash Burn, A Tiger Comeback And An India That Still Finds Its Own Path
India is not immune to higher oil or tighter global liquidity, yet its earnings base is broader, its domestic policy levers are still available.
-
Foreign Investors Own Half Of HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. An LTCG Cut Could Matter Most Here
Foreign portfolio investors have US$115 billion parked in HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank. If the government cuts long-term capital gains tax, Jefferies says returning foreign money could land here first.
