India Services Growth Improves To 5-Month High

(RTTNews) - India's service sector growth picked up pace in August, underpinned by productivity gains and positive demand trends, the latest survey data from S&P Global showed on Wednesday.

The seasonally adjusted HSBC services purchasing managers' index rose to 60.9 in August from 60.3 in July. A score above 50 indicates expansion in the sector. The flash score was 60.4.

New orders grew at the fastest pace in four months, extending the current sequence of growth to 37 months. Meanwhile, export business rose at a slower pace, and the overall better demand came from Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and the US.

Among subsectors, the finance and insurance segment was the best-performing area of India's service economy regarding both output and new business.

On the price front, input price inflation eased to the lowest since August 2020, and the overall rate of charge inflation was also moderate.

Indian service providers remained confident about expected business activity over the next year. Along with this, rising backlogs and sustained growth of new businesses continued to support job creation. Nonetheless, the pace of employment growth slowed to a 4-month low.

The composite output index remained stable at 60.7 in August and remained well above its long-run average of 54.6. Service providers drove the overall growth, while goods producers showed the weakest rise in output for seven months.