Services PMI at 13-yr high

New Delhi: India’s services sector growth touched a 13-year high in July as a substantial improvement in demand conditions and pick-up in international sales induced the strongest increase in new business and output, a monthly survey said on Thursday.

The seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Services PMI Business Activity Index rose from 58.5 in June to 62.3 in July, signaling the sharpest increase in output since June 2010. For the 24thstraight month, the headline figure was above the neutral 50 threshold. In Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) parlance, a print above 50 means expansion, while a score below 50 denotes contraction.

“The resilience of the service sector underscores its vital role in fuelling India’s economy, with the PMI results for July so far pointing to a notable contribution from the sector to overall GDP for the second fiscal quarter,”said Pollyanna De Lima, Economics Associate Director at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

According to survey members, the upturn was largely attributed to demand strength and new business gains. Demand for Indian services improved to the greatest extent in over 13 years during July, with around 29 per cent of survey participants reporting higher intakes of new business.

“The broad increases in sales across the domestic and international markets are particularly welcoming news, especially in light of the challenging global economic scenario,” Lima said.