New Delhi, 4 April (IANS). India’s service sector has continued to rise in March. Due to this, the PMI index was over a long -term average of 54.2 at 58.5. This information was received from the data released by HSBC on Friday.
However, in March, PMI has been lower than the February February figures 59.
HSBC India Composite PMI output index, based on joint activities of service and manufacturing sector, rose from 58.8 in February to seven months highest level 59.5 in March.
It reflects growth whenever the PMI index is above 50.
Pranjul Bhandari, the chief economist of India at HSBC, said, “The domestic and international demand in March was quite good, although compared to the previous month.”
Bhandari said, “If you look at the future, business sentiments are generally positive, but growing competition remains a major challenge for many survey participants.”
The report said that there is a wide increase in business activities and sales of the services sector. This is due to strong growth in finance, insurance and consumer services.
According to the report, the reason for slowness in the new business is a low increase in sales internationally.
The new orders from abroad increased at the slowest in 15 months. Increased competition and declining cost pressure have reduced inflation in March. Due to this, the prices of production increased at the lowest rate in three and a half years.
In March, there was a decrease in recruitment activity in the services economy. However, employment has increased, but its speed was the weakest in a year.
Many companies suggested that they have sufficient capacity for the current demand. There was a slight increase in outstanding business volume of Indian services providers in March.
The main reason for the increase in service sector activities is the strong domestic demand. However, its speed has slowed down compared to February.
The report stated that foreign demand was softened and international orders led to the slowest growth in 15 months. The reason for this is the changing global economic conditions.
HSBC said in the report that there has been a decrease in inflation. Due to this, the input cost has increased the least in the last five months.
-IANS
ABS/ABM