India's Service Sector

In February, the service sector PMI was at a 12-year high of 59.4

Strong demand, easing price pressures amid mild job creation drive index

The S&P Global India Services Purchasing Managers' Index rose from 57.2 in January to 59.4 in February, its highest since February 2011 and considerably above all forecasts

Here is our morning brief of today's top headlines

The hiring boom in India's services sector is likely to continue in the third quarter, with 73 per cent of employers willing to increase their resource pool

The indicators showed sentiment in the services sector -- which accounts for over 50% of the $3.2 trillion economy -- was upbeat, tax revenue were robust and demand for loans high.

Unrelenting inflation continued to worry businesses that were cautiously optimistic about the year-ahead outlook for business activity

The seasonally-adjusted S&P Global India services purchasing managers' index (PMI) - released on Wednesday - showed PMI for services for March rose to 53.6 from 51.8 in the preceding month

India's services sector activity moderated to a six-month low in January, amid imposition of restrictions across the country due to the Omicron variant as well as inflationary pressures

Unlike their manufacturing counterparts, service companies hired more hands even as the rate of employment generation remained modest

PMI fell to 52.3 in December from 53.7 in November; Companies fire workers due to liquidity problem among other factors

The latest reading was indicative of broadly stable output across the sector

Singapore continued to be largest source of FDI for India for second consecutive year

While a slowing economy had led to deceleration in demand, the lockdown has increased the pain, besides resulting in labour shortages and delay in project execution

Falls to 49.3 in March from February's 7-yr high of 57.5 as companies cut workforce

Service providers saw a marked increase in new work intakes during February, the second-fastest in over seven years

Behind the resilience in the trend for business activity stands healthy demand for services from both the domestic and international markets

Wednesday's upbeat survey comes after official data showed India's annual economic growth slowed to 4.5% in the July-September quarter, its weakest pace since 2013.

The data showed that the rate of deceleration also declined in October from September, providing a ray of hope in these times of slowdown.

The first and obvious issue concerns the foundations on which to build a strong services sector