A strong third quarter on the cards for the Indian economy
economy is set for a strong third quarter after a stellar show in the July-September period, showed a series of high-frequency indicators released on Friday.
Manufacturing picked up pace in November, goods and services tax (GST) collections posted another month of robust growth, while auto companies dispatched record-high vehicles to dealers for November. The seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) showed manufacturing activity regaining momentum in November, rising to 56 from the eight-month low of 55.5 in the previous month.
A PMI print above 50 means expansion.
GST surged 15% from a year earlier to ₹1.68 lakh crore in November, as the festival season and strong economic activity contributed to growth, showed data released Friday. «At the moment, most of the other indicators seem to be suggesting that there is resilience in the economy,» said Upasna Bhardwaj, chief economist, Kotak Mahindra Bank.
Data released on Thursday showed core sector output expanded 12.1% in October.
The economy grew a better-than-expected 7.6% in the September quarter, numbers released Thursday showed, prompting some economists to raise their full-year forecasts above RBI's 6.5% estimate.
«The manufacturing sector seems to be holding up reasonably well, based on hard data both from Q3 GDP and core infra index for October,» said Rahul Bajoria, MD and head of EM Asia (ex-China) economics, Barclays.
Carmakers dispatched 335,354 units in November, an increase of 3.9% over 322,600 sent out in the same period last year.
Rural demand
The wholesale volumes were the best for November, though the rate of growth moderated when compared with the previous few months because of the high base of last year.
