(Bloomberg) --
India's dominant services sector expanded at its slowest pace in a year in May, adding to doubts about the economy's ability to quickly reverse a slowdown.
The seasonally adjusted Nikkei India Services Index fell to 50.2 in May, its weakest level in 12 months. The reading is within earshot of the 50 threshold, which is the dividing line between expansion and contraction.
The reading signals slowing activity in India's dominant services sector and is likely to add to pressure on the central bank to lower interest rates Thursday to support the economy. Gross domestic product growth in the first three months of 2019 slowed to a five-year low of 5.8%, amid slowing demand and investments.
Read: India's Economic Growth Slows as Consumer Demand Wanes
Most economists in a Bloomberg Survey expect the monetary policy committee to cut the benchmark rate by 25 basis points to 5.75% -- the lowest level in nine years.
Nevertheless, the manufacturing sector expanded at a faster pace in May, which meant that the Nikkei India Composite PMI Output Index was at 51.7 in May, unchanged from April.
To contact the reporter on this story: Anirban Nag in Mumbai at anag8@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nasreen Seria at nseria@bloomberg.net, Karthikeyan Sundaram, Jeanette Rodrigues
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