(Pooja Dubey, Intern Journalist) The pace of growth in the country’s manufacturing activities has slowed down again. The country’s manufacturing activities have fallen to a three-month low in November due to a decrease in factory orders, exports, and purchases. This information has been found in a monthly survey released on Tuesday. The Manufacturing Procurement Managers Index (PMI) of IHS Market India fell to 56.3 in November from 58.9 in October. This is its three-month low.
These figures show that manufacturing activity in the country remains strong, undoubtedly in November, they have slowed down. PMI growth of more than 50, while the figure below shows a contraction. Pauliana Di Lima, Associate Director (Economics), IHS Market, said, “India’s manufacturing sector is on the path of reform. There is strong growth in new orders and production in the manufacturing sector in November as well.
Lima said that the rate of expansion in manufacturing activities is not a setback. This figure has come down after a decade high of October. He said that this improvement could be affected by the increase in cases of Covid-19 and possible lockdown due to it. According to the survey, the pace of growth of new orders in November was the lowest in three months.
Estimating further production growth,
Lima said, “Companies say that the epidemic was the biggest bottleneck in the growth of manufacturing activity in November. Uncertainty about Covid-19 has also reduced business confidence. “Further growth is anticipated, but concerns over public policies, rupee depreciation, and the Covid-19 epidemic have led to some confidence,” the survey said.
At the same time, there is no good news on the employment front as companies continue to lay off. Companies say they are having to reduce their workforce due to compliance with social distance guidelines. The number of layoffs in November has been more or less the same as in October. Lima said, “Continuation of the decline in employment continues. However, the reason for this is that companies have to reduce the workforce to comply with government guidelines.
The rate of decline in the economy has come down to 7.5 percent. Meanwhile, the growth rate of the Indian economy has come down to 7.5 percent in the second July-September quarter of the current financial year. The Indian economy lost 23.9 percent in the first quarter.