India's business activity surges in June on strong demand, record export orders, PMI shows
Tired of too many ads?
Remove Ads
Tired of too many ads?
Remove Ads
India's private sector activity accelerated sharply in June as companies ramped up production to meet surging domestic and international demand, according to a survey released on Monday that showed record export growth and robust hiring.The HSBC Flash India Composite Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), compiled by S&P Global, jumped to a 14-month high of 61.0 this month from 59.3 in May, exceeding a Reuters poll forecast for a modest lift to 59.4.The 50-mark separates growth from contraction and the latest data showed nearly four years of sustained expansion.Services gained momentum with the activity index rising to 60.7 from May's 58.8 - the strongest since August last year - while manufacturing gained pace thanks to robust output. Its PMI climbed to 58.4 in June from 57.6."New export orders continued to fuel private sector business activity, especially in manufacturing," noted Pranjul Bhandari, chief India economist at HSBC.This expansion was driven by favorable demand as composite new orders grew at the fastest pace in 11 months. Goods producers experienced a more pronounced upturn than services firms.International sales saw a remarkable rise, with overall new export business at the highest since the data started to be collected in September 2014. However, service providers recorded slower growth in export business compared to last month."The combination of robust global demand and rising backlogs prompted manufacturers to increase hiring," added Bhandari.Manufacturing employment growth reached a peak not seen since the series began over two decades ago. Service providers also continued adding jobs at a solid pace, albeit slower than in May.Meanwhile, overall price pressures eased slightly with input cost inflation softening to a 10-month low, allowing firms to limit price hikes to remain competitive. That resulted in a slower rate of output price rises from May's six-month high.That comes after data showed inflation eased to an over 6-year low in May, allowing the Reserve Bank of India to focus on supporting economic growth and cutting interest rates amid rising uncertainty from U.S. trade tariffs.Despite positive private sector performance, business confidence dipped to its lowest in just over two years. Manufacturers expressed slightly improved optimism while service providers tempered their expectations for the coming year.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NDTV
an hour ago
- NDTV
Putin Doubts Potency Of Trump's Ultimatums To End War With Ukraine: Report
Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin is unlikely to bow to a sanctions ultimatum expiring this Friday from US President Donald Trump, and retains the goal of capturing four regions of Ukraine in their entirety, sources close to the Kremlin told Reuters. Trump has threatened to hit Russia with new sanctions and impose 100% tariffs on countries that buy its oil, of which the biggest are China and India - unless Putin agrees to a ceasefire in Russia's war in Ukraine. Putin's determination to keep going is prompted by his belief that Russia is winning and by scepticism that yet more US sanctions will have much of an impact after successive waves of economic penalties during 3-1/2 years of war, according to three sources familiar with discussions in the Kremlin. The Russian leader does not want to anger Trump, and he realises that he may be spurning a chance to improve relations with Washington and the West, but his war goals take precedence, two of the sources said. Putin's goal is to fully capture the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, which Russia has claimed as its own, and then to talk about a peace agreement, one of the sources said. "If Putin were able to fully occupy those four regions, which he has claimed for Russia, he could claim that his war in Ukraine had reached his objectives," said James Rodgers, author of the forthcoming book "The Return of Russia". The current talks process, in which Russian and Ukrainian negotiators have met three times since May, was an attempt by Moscow to convince Trump that Putin was not rejecting peace, the first source said, adding that the talks were devoid of real substance apart from discussions on humanitarian exchanges. Russia says it is serious about agreeing on a long-term peace in the negotiations, but that the process is complicated because the two sides' stances are so far apart. Putin last week described the talks as positive. Moscow's stated demands include a full Ukrainian withdrawal from the four regions and acceptance by Kyiv of neutral status and limits on the size of its military – demands rejected by Ukraine. In a sign that there may yet be an opportunity to strike a deal before the deadline, Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to visit Russia this week, following an escalation in rhetoric between Trump and Moscow over risks of nuclear war. "President Trump wants to stop the killing, which is why he is selling American-made weapons to NATO members and threatening Putin with biting tariffs and sanctions if he does not agree to a ceasefire," White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in response to a request for comment. The Kremlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story. All the sources spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. Trump, who in the past has praised Putin and held out the prospect of lucrative business deals between their two countries, has lately expressed growing impatience with the Russian president. He has complained about what he called Putin's "bullshit" and described Russia's relentless bombing of Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities as "disgusting". The Kremlin has said it noted Trump's statements, but it has declined to respond to them. Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko last week called on the world to respond with "maximum pressure" after the worst Russian air strike of the year killed 31 people in Kyiv, including five children, in what she called Russia's response to Trump's deadline. FORCES ADVANCE The first source said Putin was privately concerned about the recent deterioration of US ties. Putin still retains the hope that Russia can again befriend America and trade with the West, and "he is worried" about Trump's irritation, this person said. But with Moscow's forces advancing on the battlefield and Ukraine under heavy military pressure, Putin does not believe now is the time to end the war, the source said, adding that neither the Russian people nor the army would understand if he stops now. Rodgers, the author, said Putin has invested his political reputation and legacy in the war in Ukraine. "We know from his previous writings and statements that he sees himself as part of a strong tradition of standing up to the West and the rest of the world to defend Russia's interests," he said. The Kremlin leader values the relationship with Trump and does not want to anger him; however, "he simply has a top priority - Putin cannot afford to end the war just because Trump wants it," the second Russian source said. A third person familiar with Kremlin thinking also said Russia wanted to take all four regions and did not see the logic in stopping at a time of battlefield gains during Russia's summer offensive. Ukraine has suffered some of its biggest territorial losses of 2025 in the past three months, including 502 square kilometres in July, according to Black Bird Group, a Finland-based military analysis centre. In total, Russia has occupied around a fifth of Ukraine. Russia's military General Staff has told Putin that the Ukrainian front will crumble in two or three months, the first person said. However, Russia's recent gains remain relatively minor in purely territorial terms, with only 5,000 square kilometres (1,930 square miles) of Ukraine taken since the start of last year, less than 1% of the country's overall territory, according to a June report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank. Ukrainian and Western military sources acknowledge that Russia is making gains, but only gradually and with heavy casualties. Russian war bloggers say Moscow's forces have been bogged down during its current summer offensive in areas where the terrain and dense urban landscape favoured Ukraine, but assess that other areas should be faster to take. 'HE'S MADE THREATS BEFORE' Trump's sanctions threat was "painful and unpleasant," but not a catastrophe, the second source said. The third source said there was a feeling in Moscow that "there's not much more that they can do to us". It was also not clear if Trump would follow through on his ultimatum, this person said, adding that "he's made threats before" and then not acted, or changed his mind. The source also said it was hard to imagine that China would stop buying Russian oil on instructions from Trump, and that his actions risked backfiring by driving oil prices higher. As a consequence of previous rounds of sanctions, Russian oil and gas exporters have taken big hits to their revenues, and foreign direct investment in the country fell by 63% last year, according to UN trade data. Around $300 billion of central bank assets have been frozen in foreign jurisdictions. But Russia's ability to wage war has been unimpeded, thanks in part to ammunition supplies from North Korea and imports from China of dual-use components that have sustained a massive rise in weapons production. The Kremlin has repeatedly said that Russia has some "immunity" to sanctions. Trump has acknowledged Russia's skill in skirting the measures. "They're wily characters and they're pretty good at avoiding sanctions, so we'll see what happens," he told reporters at the weekend, when asked what his response would be if Russia did not agree to a ceasefire. The first Russian source noted that Putin, in pursuing the conflict, was turning his back on a US offer made in March that Washington, in return for his agreement to a full ceasefire, would remove US sanctions, recognise Russian possession of Crimea - annexed from Ukraine in 2014 - and acknowledge de facto Russian control of the territory captured by its forces since 2022. The source called the offer a "fantastic chance," but said stopping a war was much more difficult than starting it.
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
an hour ago
- Business Standard
Titan mulls shifting some production to Gulf to dodge US tariff hike
Tata Group's Titan may shift some manufacturing to the Gulf region to maintain low-tariff access to US markets amid trade tensions between US and India, Managing Director CK Venkataraman said, according to Reuters. This comes amid rising tensions between India and the US, with President Donald Trump threatening to 'very substantially' raise tariffs on Indian imports over its continued purchases of Russian oil. Last month, Titan also announced that its Dubai-based wholly owned subsidiary Titan Holdings International FZCO has signed an agreement to acquire a 67 per cent stake in Damas LLC, the holding company for the Damas jewellery business in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. The deal amounts to approximately $282 million. In view of the deal, Venkataraman told Reuters that the Gulf region is being considered "as a manufacturing base to export to the US". Last week, the US announced a 25 per cent tariff on Indian imports along with additional penalties, while the United Arab Emirates — a GCC member — currently faces a lower 10 per cent duty, the report added. Venkataraman stated that relocating some production to a GCC country could help offset potential cost increases from higher tariffs. 'If the tariffs remain like what they are currently threatened to be, then any arbitrage on a tariff... any significant arbitrage would be meaningful for us to consider,' he said. He also added that the US itself remains a less viable option due to high costs and a limited skilled workforce required for jewellery production.
Mint
2 hours ago
- Mint
Wall Street Today: Dow, Nasdaq, S&P 500 open higher as investors focus on optimism over potential US Fed rate cut
Wall Street Today: The US benchmark indices, the Dow Jones, Nasdaq, and S&P 500, open higher as investors focus on optimism over a potential US Fed rate cut and corporate earnings in the US markets. Investors are focusing their attention on an upcoming interest rate cut from the US Federal Reserve (Fed) on the backdrop of last week's US job data release. According to the US Bureau of Labour Statistics' latest data release, the total US nonfarm payroll employment data witnessed an addition of 73,000 jobs in July 2025. 'Employment continued to trend up in health care and in social assistance. Federal government continued to lose jobs,' according to the US jobs data release. At 9:30 a.m. (EDT), The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.06% at the opening bell at 44,200.07 points, compared to 44,173.64 points at the previous US market close. Companies like Amazon Inc., Caterpillar Inc., Travelers Cos. Inc., 3M Co., Boeing Co., UnitedHealth Group Inc., Walmart Inc., American Express Co., Home Depot Inc., CiscoSystemsInc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Procter & GambleCo., Nike Inc., Merck & Co. Inc., Coca-Cola Co., Johnson & Johnson, NVIDIA Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Honeywell International Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., Microsoft Corp., Sherwin-Williams Co. were among the gainers for the day. Other firms, such as International Business Machines Corp., Chevron Corp., Salesforce Inc., Walt Disney Co., McDonald's Corp., Apple Inc., Amgen Inc., and Visa Inc., were among the losers for the day. The S&P 500 index also opened 0.11% higher at 6,336.63 points, compared to 6,329.94 points at the previous stock market close. Companies like Axon Enterprise Inc., Palantir Technologies Inc., Leidos Holdings Inc., Intel Corp., Cummins Inc., Pfizer Inc., Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc., Archer Daniels Midland Co., Duke Energy Corp., and CarMaxInc. were among the gainers on Tuesday. Gartner Inc., Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., TransDigm Group Inc., Henry Schein Inc., Zebra Technologies Corp., Fidelity National Information Services Inc., Eaton Corp., ONEOK Inc., Diamondback Energy Inc., and BallCorp. were among the laggards of the day. The Nasdaq Composite index opened 0.18% higher at 21,092.097 points, compared to 21,053.58 points at the previous Wall Street close. Stocks like CaliberCos Inc., Solarmax Technology Inc., Y-mAbs Therapeutics Inc., Staar Surgical Co., Adaptimmune Therapeutics PLC ADR, Xometry Inc., A Ontrak Inc., Castle Biosciences Inc., Arteris Inc., and Origin Materials Inc. were among the gainers. Ichor Holdings Ltd, SMX (Security Matters) PLC, AYRO Inc., Nuwellis Inc., Snail Inc., Safe & Green Holdings Corp., zSpace Inc., Bollinger Innovations Inc., Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., and Lichen International Inc. were among the losers. Read all stories by Anubhav Mukherjee Disclaimer: This story is for educational purposes only. The views and recommendations made above are those of individual analysts or broking companies, and not of Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before making any investment decisions.
