Case has renewed debate about foreign ownership of Indian companies; Amazon accused of wanting to crush local firm.
Business activity, company order books and output prices have rebounded sharply since their coronavirus lockdown lows, Bloomberg data shows.
India’s economic activity showed signs of stabilizing in November, even as concerns of fresh virus outbreaks and a new strain in the U.K. mount amid news of vaccines fueling hope.
All eight high-frequency indicators tracked by Bloomberg News were steady last month, keeping the needle on a dial measuring the so-called ‘Animal Spirits’ unchanged at 5. The level was arrived at by using the three-month weighted average to smooth out volatility in the single-month readings.
The pace of activity thus far was enough for the nation’s central bank to revise its forecast for the economy, which it now expects to exit a recession in the current quarter to December.
Activity in India’s dominant services sector expanded for a second straight month in November, although at a slower pace. The Markit India Services Purchasing Managers’ Index was at 53.7 last month versus 54.1 in October, with a reading above 50 indicating expansion. IHS Markit, which conducts the survey, said the level of positive sentiment had climbed to the highest since February amid predictions that conditions would normalize once a vaccine is rolled out.
[Bloomberg]
Exports lost some momentum last month, declining 8.7% in November from a year ago as trading partners were hit with fresh restrictions amid a second wave of Covid-19 infections. Gems and jewelery and engineering goods exports were a drag, although a deeper fall was arrested by healthier shipments of drugs and pharmaceuticals along with farm products. Imports were weak, with demand for capital goods still subdued and remains a possible cause for worry.
Passenger vehicle sales, a key indicator of demand, rose 4.7% in November from a year ago, although the pace was slower than what was seen in the run up to India’s festival of lights — Diwali. Overall retail sales signaled demand picking up, even though they were 44% below the year-ago level, according to ShopperTrak.
India’s retail sales picked up the pace in November but remain far below their levels in 2019 [File: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg]
Industrial production rose 3.6% in October from a year earlier. Production of capital goods, which had declined for several months in a row, rose 3.3% from a year earlier, and so did consumer durables and non-durables.
Output at infrastructure industries shrank 2.5% in October from a year ago. The sector, which makes up 40% of the industrial production index, had contracted by a record 37.9% in April. Both data are published with a one-month lag.