RTTNews | May 3, 2021 07:04AM EDT

07:04 Monday, May 3, 2021 (RTTNews.com) - India's manufacturing sector grow improved marginally in April, amid a rise in production and demand, survey results from IHS Markit showed on Monday.

The headline IHS Markit manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index, or PMI, rose to 55.5 in April from 55.4 in March.

Any reading above 50.0 indicates expansion in the sector. Economists had expected the reading to fall to 51.6.

New orders and output expanded in April. New export orders increased for the eighth straight month.

Purchasing activity increased to one of the strongest rates recorded over past nine years and stocks of purchases continued to rise.

Input prices rose at the steepest rate since mid-2014 and factory gate charges increased further. The rate of inflation was at the fastest in seven-and-a-half years.

Employment continued to decline in April and outstanding business increased.

Suppliers' delivery time lengthened to a lesser extent in April.

Business confidence outlook for the next 12 months strengthened, Pollyanna De Lima, economics associate director at IHS Markit, said.

"Data for the coming months will be important at verifying whether client demand is resilient to these challenges or if producers will have to further absorb cost burdens themselves to secure new work," Lima said.

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