Why in the news ?
- Driven by a rise in new business orders amid favourable demand conditions, and easing inflationary pressures, India’s manufacturing sector activity improved marginally in April.
More on news
- The Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), rose from 51.0 in March to 51.6 in April, indicating faster improvement in the health of the manufacturing economy than in the prior month.
- Soft input cost increases Inflationary pressures moderated for the second month in a row, with the softest increases for input costs and output charges reported since September 2017 and July 2017, respectively.
- The Indian manufacturing economy started the quarter on a slightly stronger footing as growth picked up from March’s five month low, buoyed by stronger demand conditions.
What is PMI ?
- PMI or a Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) is an indicator of business activity — both in the manufacturing and services sectors.
- It is a survey-based measures that asks the respondents about changes in their perception of some key business variables from the month before.
- It is calculated separately for the manufacturing and services sectors and then a composite index is constructed.
- A figure above 50 denotes expansion in business activity. Anything below 50 denotes contraction. Higher the difference from this mid-point greater the expansion or contraction.
Source
The Hindu, Indian Economy.