India Manufacturing Growth Eases Amid Intensive Heatwave

(RTTNews) - India's manufacturing activity continued to expand strongly in May, though the pace of growth moderated as the intensive heatwave affected production volumes, survey results from S&P Global showed on Monday.

The seasonally adjusted HSBC Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index dropped to 57.5 in May from 58.8 in April. Nonetheless, a score above 50.0 indicates expansion.

The overall strong growth was underpinned by new business gains, demand strength, and successful marketing efforts.

On the other hand, the slowdown was attributed to reduced working hours amid intensive heat and rising production costs.

New orders grew at the slowest pace in three months as the expansion was hindered by competition and election-related disruptions.

Meanwhile, new export orders rose at the quickest pace in over thirteen years in May, spurred by gains from customers across several countries in Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe, and the Middle East.

Indian manufacturers remained most confident about growth prospects in more than nine years, fuelled by advertising and innovation, alongside expectations that economic and demand conditions will remain favourable.

Consequently, manufacturing employment rose to one of the greatest extents seen since the survey began in 2005.

On the price front, cost pressures remained strong in May, and this resulted in an acceleration in output price inflation, which was the highest in eight months.