According to the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) monthly economic assessment, key indicators indicate that the Indian economy will remain healthy at the end of 2023–2024, with the manufacturing PMI rising and the services PMI continuing its strong trend.
As the output of eight important infrastructure sectors grew to a three-month high of 6.7% in February from 4.1% in January, the PMI for manufacturing activity surged to 56.9 in February, according to the NCAER’s assessment for March, which was made public on Sunday.
The goods and services tax (GST) receipts, which reached Rs 1.7 lakh crore in February and represented a 12.5% year-over-year increase, also remained strong, according to the economic think tank.
“These and other markers corroborate the optimistic growth outlook of 7.6 per cent growth rate for 2023-24 as per the second advance estimates,” NCAER Director General Poonam Gupta stated.
“As in the past, economic growth has been accompanied by indicators pointing toward macroeconomic sustainability,” she added, highlighting the improvements in the external sector in particular, with the current account deficit (for the December quarter, FY24) improving; remittances flowing at a high level of USD 31.4 billion; the services trade surplus growing; portfolio inflows returning; and all of this allowing India’s foreign exchange reserves to sharply rise to nearly USD 650 billion.
Despite a decline in core inflation, the NCAER reported that inflationary pressures persisted, with the Consumer Price Index headline inflation rate reaching 5.1% in February, mainly because of significant food price inflation.
