India’s Manufacturing Growth Hits 10-Month High in April

New Delhi: A Day after the country’s GST mop-up hit a new record, India’s manufacturing activities also rose to a ten-month high in April, showing resilience in the Indian economy. On the back of yet another strong expansion in order books, the growth momentum in the manufacturing sector across the country improved for the month with output increasing at the fastest pace since June 2024, a monthly private survey said on Friday.

As per the seasonally adjusted HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index or PMI, it rose from 58.1 in March to 58.2 in April, indicating the strongest improvement in the health of the sector for ten months. In PMI parlance, a print above 50 means expansion, while a score below 50 denotes contraction.

As per the survey, the key factor was a sharp rise in new business for contributing to the latest improvement in output growth. “The manufacturing sector’s rate of expansion was supported by better domestic and international demand. However, the total sales were supported by a sharp rise in international orders,” the survey said.

The survey further noted that new business from abroad grew to the greatest degree in over 14 years at the start of the 2025-26 fiscal year and this demand was led by Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas. “The notable increase in new export orders in April may indicate a potential shift in production to India, as businesses adapt to the evolving trade landscape and US tariff announcements,” Pranjul Bhandari, chief India economist at HSBC, said in his comment.

As per the survey, the positive trend was accompanied by notable rises in employment and purchasing activity. “Manufacturers continued to enhance their staffing levels in April to meet growing output requirements. Exactly 9 percent of survey participants took on extra workers, with a combination of permanent and temporary contracts reportedly being offered,” the survey noted.

However, purchasing activity, it said, rose in tandem with new business growth, and the latest sharp expansion in input buying was also partly attributed to stock-building initiatives. “Manufacturing output growth strengthened to a ten-month high on robust orders. Input prices increased slightly faster, but the impact on margins could be more than offset by the much-faster rise in output prices, of which the index jumped to the highest level since October 2013,” Bhandari said.

On the prices front, the survey also said that robust demand for Indian goods boosted firms’ pricing power, with selling charges hiked to the greatest degree since October 2013. “This was despite a modest uptick in input costs. Strong optimism regarding output prospects over the coming year was evident in the April data, driven by expectations of demand strength. Marketing efforts, efficiency gains, and new client enquiries also underpinned positive forecasts,” it added.