India\u2019s manufacturing sector activity strengthened in December, with manufacturers stepping up production and input buying amid efforts to rebuild their inventories following business closures earlier in the year, a monthly survey said on Monday.<\/p>\n
The seasonally adjusted IHS Markit India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers\u2019\u2019 Index (PMI) was at 56.4 in December, a tick higher than November\u2019s reading of 56.3. A print above 50 means expansion, while a score below that denotes contraction.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe latest PMI results for the Indian manufacturing sector continued to point to an economy on the mend, as a supportive demand environment and firms\u2019 efforts to rebuild safety stocks underpinned another sharp rise in production,\u201d said Pollyanna De Lima, Economics Associate Director at IHS Markit.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to emphasise the broad-based nature of the recovery, with marked expansions in both sales and output noted across each of the three monitored sub-sectors,\u201d she said. International demand for Indian goods rose in December, but the growth was hampered by the pandemic. As a result, new export orders rose at the slowest pace in the current four-month sequence of expansion. Output growth also eased to a four-month low, but remained strong.<\/p>\n
Employment fell again, stretching the current sequence of job shedding to nine months. Input cost inflation accelerated to a 26-month high, with panellists noting increased prices for chemicals, metals, plastics and textiles. Output charges were lifted in response to rising cost burdens.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n