Blitz India Business
India’s manufacturing sector kept growing in June, with the HSBC India Manufacturing PMI at 54.5 — a three-month low, down from 55.0 in May, but comfortably above the 50 mark that separates expansion from contraction. New orders rose again, if at a gentler pace.
The detail points to a soft patch rather than a stall: export orders grew at their slowest since early 2023, hiring was the weakest in six months, and cost pressures stayed elevated, trimming business confidence. Even so, output continued to expand, and a sub-55 reading of this kind still signals a manufacturing base in solid, if less exuberant, growth.
Above 50 is the number that matters — June’s reading says demand cooled, not that growth reversed, and the levers to firm it are largely domestic.
The read-through is a manufacturing cycle catching its breath amid a cooler global demand backdrop, with input costs the variable to watch. Domestic orders remain the ballast, and the trade agreements now coming into force could widen export channels over the coming quarters.
The constructive task is to support the momentum: easing input-cost pressures, converting new trade access into export orders, and sustaining public capital spending, so a three-month-low print stays a pause rather than a turn.