After losing some momentum at the end of the 2025 calendar year, growth across India's private sector economy bounced back in January. The HSBC Flash PMI figures showed quicker increases in new orders and output, alongside the reinstatement of job creation and a rebound in business confidence.
For all of the aforementioned measures, trends improved at both manufacturers and service providers. Meanwhile, aggregate rates of input cost and output charge inflation remained moderate despite quickening since December.
Rising from an 11-month low reading of 57.8 in December to 59.5 in January, the HSBC Flash India Composite Output Index indicated a sharp rate of expansion that was above the long-run series average.
Manufacturing-specific data showed that, in addition to employment, firms spent more on materials. Buying levels increased at a quicker pace than in December, and one that was sharp overall.
Supported by better trends in four of its five sub-components – bar Suppliers' Delivery Times which is inverted before entering the calculation – the HSBC Flash India Manufacturing PMI rose from 55.0 in December to 56.8 in January. This signalled the best improvement in operating conditions since last October.
January data showed back-to-back increases in outstanding business volumes across the private sector, but the rate of accumulation was marginal and solely driven by an uptick among goods producers.
At the same time, rates of output price inflation across the manufacturing and services categories matched. The overall level of positive sentiment remained below its long-run average, but rose to a three-month high.