Okay,so some slightly good news coming for Indian economy side . The Services PMI number for May is 59.8,which is up from 58.8 in April . Seems like things are looking up a little bit.
And this jump is apparently because of strong demand in services . We are talking about sectors like freight,digital solutions,e-commerce,entertainment and even IT doing well rn. HSBC India's new data says companies are getting more business,so they are hiring more people also.
Pranjul Bhandari,who is Chief India Economist at HSBC,also said this is a good sign . Basically,it shows business activity is expanding because new orders keep coming in . Even demand from other countries for India's services is back up after a drop in April.
Few things standing out from this report:
- New business is at a six-month high,which is not small thing ah.
- Job creation is also solid,second-fastest rate in nearly one year.
- Input cost inflation has eased to its lowest level in four months.
And honestly,this is where things get a little confusing for me.
Because even with all this good news,the report says fewer than 7% of companies actually increased hiring . Most of them just kept their workforce same size. So it feels like companies are still being very cautious.
But at same time,they are creating jobs at good rate overall . So maybe growth is coming from a small number of very big companies only? It's a bit unclear .
The report also mentioned that price increases have slowed down to a four-month low . This is good because it means companies are finding a balance between making profit and not scaring away customers with high prices.
So the overall picture looks promising,no doubt . The numbers are pointing in right direction for the economy .
But that hiring detail is still stuck in my mind . Why are most companies not hiring more if business is so good? Makes you wonder if they are worried about something we don't know yet…
