Business EconomyPosted at: May 6 2026 1:41PM


Services activity expands rapidly in April, PMI rises to 58.8

New Delhi, May 6 (UNI) The services sector in India has expanded at a rapid pace in the first five months of the fiscal year, supported by stronger domestic demand, higher e-commerce activity, and improved new order inflows, according to the HSBC India Services PMI.
The seasonally adjusted index rose to 58.8 in April, after touching a 14-month low of 57.5 in March.
The spike in the HSBC India Composite PMI Output Index signaled a faster expansion in private sector output, as both manufacturing and services activity regained momentum.
The survey highlighted that the growth was driven by stronger domestic demand, new orders, competitive pricing, and increased ecommerce activity, even as export growth weakened and cost pressures remained elevated due to the West Asia war.

Services firms reported a sharp increase in operating expenses in April. Although input cost inflation eased from March, it remained among the highest levels recorded since November 2024.
Higher prices for food items, including cooking oil, eggs, gas shortages, meat and vegetables along with increases in gas and labour costs, drove overall expenses, the report added.
Services firms remained optimistic about future activity, overall business confidence weakened compared with March, it added.
Employment rose across all four broad areas of the services economy tracked by the survey. Stronger growth in new business supported an increase in hiring at the start of the first fiscal quarter.
The private sector manufacturing activity growth recovered in April as HSBC’s India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), compiled by S&P Global, which measures monthly change in manufacturing output, rose to 54.7 in April, up from 53.9 in March.

The growth was riding on the back of sharper export growth, after plummeting to a four-year low in March due to West Asia-linked disruption.

A weighted average of new orders, output, employment, suppliers’ delivery times and stocks of purchases indices was lower than the Flash India Manufacturing PMI of 55.9, released last month.
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