Manufacturing PMI in Nov hits 3-month high

NEW DELHI: India’s factory activity expanded at its fastest pace in three months in November as new orders and exports surged, boosted by “impressive” demand resilience and a substantial easing of input costs, according to the results of a monthly survey released on Thursday.

The Manufacturing Purchasing Managers‘ Index (PMI), compiled by S&P Global, rose to 55.7 last month from 55.3 in October, signalling the strongest improvement in operating conditions in three months. The previous highest was 56.2 in August.

A reading of 50 separates expansion from contraction.

The data points to the 17th successive expansion in monthly manufacturing, as companies responded to an increase in new work intakes. The November upturn in output was sharp, above trend, and the strongest since August.

“Demand resilience boosted manufacturing growth in India, with companies noting the quickest increases in new orders and production for three months. Moreover, firms were strongly confident towards growth prospects, with optimism driving another round of job creation and restocking initiatives,“the survey said.

“India’s manufacturing sector continued to perform well in November, besides heightened recession fears elsewhere and a deteriorating outlook for the global economy. It was business as usual for goods producers, who lifted production volumes to the greatest extent in three months amid impressive evidence of demand resilience. New orders and exports expanded markedly in the latest month,“said Pollyanna De Lima, economics associate director at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Survey participants were confident in both the buoyancy of demand for goods and their ability to further increase production in 2023. The level of positive sentiment recorded in November was the best in nearly eight years. Companies, she said, were also aided by a substantial cooling of cost pressures during the month, which prompted them to purchase more inputs and add to their inventories.