India Services Growth Improves In August

(RTTNews) - India's services activity expanded at a faster pace in August amid favorable demand conditions, final data compiled by S&P Global showed on Thursday.

The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Services PMI rose to 54.1 in August from 53.3 in July. A score above 50.0 indicates expansion. The flash score was 54.5.

The growth in new orders accelerated on the back of stronger customer demand and marketing initiatives. However, the pace of increase was still the second-slowest in nearly four-and-a-half years due to challenging market conditions and weaker client interest in selected services.

New export business also logged solid growth in August amid more client interests from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and the UAE.

Employment across India's service economy was marked and the strongest in fifteen months, linked to efforts to support customer service, sales, and digital operations.

On the price front, input cost inflation edged higher due to higher spending on digital platforms, electricity, inputs, labor, marketing, and regulatory requirements. As a result, selling prices inflation accelerated to the highest since March.

The composite output index remained stable at 54.3 in August, indicating that acceleration in growth of services activity offset a slowdown in manufacturing.