India’s services sector posts strongest growth in three months
04 Jan 2013
India's services sector registered its strongest pace of growth in three months during December, with company order books filling at the quickest rate since last February, according to a survey today, reports Reuters.
Services, ranging from banks to restaurants, contribute at least 60 per cent of India's economic output and a recovery indicates an uptick in prospects for the third-largest economy in Asia.
The sector has bucked the trend seen in other sectors of India's slowing economy, the report said.
The HSBC services Purchasing Managers' Index, a survey of around 400 companies, was up to 55.6 in December from 52.1 in November.
The 50 mark is the point of separation of expansion from contraction and has been above that level for over a year now.
While overseas demand for Indian services continued to be strong, there were big questions about major export markets. The US economy is expected to remain sluggish in 2013, underscoring a very fragile world economic outlook, according to a Reuters poll.
