India's manufacturing sector growth climbed to a 16-year high in March on the back of the strongest increase in output and new orders since October 2020, amid reports of buoyant demand conditions, a monthly survey said on Tuesday. The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) surged to a 16-year high of 59.1 in March, from 56.9 in February, reflecting stronger growth of new orders, output and input stocks as well as renewed job creation. In Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) parlance, a print above 50 means expansion while a score below 50 denotes contraction.
Costlier fruits and vegetables such as onions and tomatoes pushed retail inflation to a nine-month high of 11.24 per cent in November, making it harder for the Reserve Bank to lower interest rates.
Enthused by higher than expected GDP numbers in the fourth quarter of 2022-23, Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran on Wednesday said India's economic growth may exceed the initial estimate of 6.5 per cent in the current fiscal and the country can look for another year of solid economic performance.
According to a statement available on the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation website, gross domestic product, consumer price index and index of industrial production will now be released at 5.30 in the evening.
India's industrial production grew by 1 per cent in December, official data showed on Friday. According to the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data, the manufacturing sector output grew by 1.6 per cent in December 2020.
Inflation moderates, but a rate cut is unlikely.
Despite multiple headwinds at the start of 2023, the Indian markets delivered a strong performance, posting 19-20 per cent growth for the year. Even as new records were set, investor sentiment remains strong going into 2024, given the lower inflation, expectations of steady to lower interest rates, higher economic growth, and strong inflows. However, the overriding concern for most brokerages is valuations.
The industrial production grew by two per cent in September, mainly on account of better performance by power and mining sectors.
US economic growth slowed sharply in the fourth quarter.
Vegetable, fruit prices to be on the rise over weak supply, crop damage
The market believes there will soon be another offer to buy the bonds.
Retail inflation slowed to 4.29 per cent in April from 5.52 per cent in March, mainly due to easing food prices, government data showed on Wednesday. The Reserve Bank mainly factors in the retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) while arriving at its monetary policy. As per the data released by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, inflation in the food basket was 2.02 per cent in April, down from 4.87 per cent in the preceding month.
There are seven potential buyers, ranging from the Port Talbot steelworks' management to the UK steel industry investors Liberty House
India's manufacturing sector activity contracted for the third straight month in October amid falling levels of production and new orders, as the business climate within the country remained tough, an HSBC survey said on Friday.
Both across India and the four regions - north, south, east and west - it is found that the absolute prices of a vegetarian thali have decreased significantly since 2015-16 though the price has increased in 2019.
It would be a miracle indeed if we grow at 7/8 per cent a year over the current and next few years, says A V Rajwade
Pulses cropping has jumped to 39.4 per cent above 2015 levels.
The Reserve Bank will hold a special meeting of its rate-setting committee on November 3 to prepare a report for the government on why it failed to keep retail inflation below the target of 6 per cent for three consecutive quarters since January. The six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) headed by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das will prepare the report on reasons for failure to meet the inflation target as well as the remedial measures the central bank is taking to bring down prices in the country. "Under the provisions of Section 45ZN of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act 1934... an additional meeting of the MPC is being scheduled on November 3, 2022," RBI said in a statement on Thursday.
Fourth quarter earnings of blue-chips such as Infosys, TCS, Wipro, RIL and inflation data for March will dictate the trend on the bourses in a holiday-shortened week ahead, experts said.
In August, wholesale prices rose 3.74 per cent year-on-year.
Currently, the retail inflation is well below the RBI's comfort level. The government has asked the central bank to keep inflation in the range of 4 per cent.
The overall consumer food inflation in August fell to 5.91 per cent as against 8.35 per cent in July
Inflation in the 'fuel and power' basket in December slumped to 8.38 per cent, nearly half of 16.28 per cent.
Terming the rise in October retail inflation despite a bumper crop as "disturbing", India Inc said the government must immediately address supply side bottlenecks to bring down the consumer price inflation.
The HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index for the manufacturing industry climbed from 49.6 in October to 51.3 in November on the back of a rebound in new orders and output.
Potato, a daily consumable vegetable, witnessed maximum inflationary pressure at 60.58 per cent
Food prices rose 8.64 per cent year-on-year last month, slower than an annual rise of 9.90 per cent in March.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation is now projected to be at 5.3 per cent for 2021-22 with risks evenly balanced. In its August policy, the central bank had estimated inflation to be at 5.7 per cent due to supply side constraints, high crude oil and raw materials cost.
Last week, the Consumer Price Index-based inflation for the month had contracted to 4.4 per cent.
On overall basis, the inflation in the food segment increased to 4.42 per cent in November as compared to 1.9 per cent in the preceding month.
Retail inflation inched up to 4.48 per cent in October due to an uptick in food prices, government data showed on Friday. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation was at 4.35 per cent in September and 7.61 per cent in October 2020.
The stock of consumer goods major Emami has corrected nearly 3.5 per cent since its 52-week high of Rs 546.25. On August 29, the stock closed at Rs 521.90 on the BSE. After underperforming the Nifty FMCG index for a long time, the stock is now doing a catch up and surged over 13 per cent in the past one month.
Industrial production re-entered the negative territory by contracting 1.6 per cent in January, mainly on account of the decline in output of capital goods, manufacturing and mining sectors. The output of the manufacturing sector -- which constitutes 77.6 per cent of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) -- shrank by 2 per cent in January, as against a growth of 1.8 per cent during the same month last fiscal, as per data released by the government on Friday. The worst performance was witnessed by the capital goods sector, which recorded a contraction of 9.6 per cent during the month under review, compared to a 4.4 per cent decline a year ago.
With retail inflation witnessing significant uptick in May, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is likely to maintain status quo in its August monetary policy review, according to a report. According to the SBI's research report- Ecowrap, inflation may remain elevated in the coming months due to several global and domestic factors. "We expect a status-quo in August. We believe RBI would still try to find a marriage of convenience of regulatory and developmental measures and monetary policy in August policy," the research report said on Wednesday.
'Yet the market didn't do all that badly because it was cushioned by domestic inflows.'
This growth seen by the consumer goods was led mainly by the durables market, which rose 17.6%, the highest in 11 months
Inflation in food articles inched up to 0.69 per cent in September.
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Prices of the kitchen staple in Azadpur mandi, Asia's largest wholesale market, were ruling at Rs 60 per kg today as supplies were below normal.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is likely to step up efforts to boost consumption and rural economy while keeping inflation under check when she presents her sixth straight Budget on February 1. Experts said one way to boost consumption is to put more money in the hands of people, and one of the possible ways of doing it is by reducing the tax burden through tinkering with tax slabs or increasing the standard deduction. Another proposal is related to increasing the funds under the rural employment guarantee scheme MGNREGA and higher payout for farmers.
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