NEW DELHI: India’s services sector registered its lowest print in over 14 years in April as the lockdown to contain the covid-19 pandemic forced businesses to shut down and consumers to stay indoors, a private survey showed.
The services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for India declined to 5.4 in April, an extreme decline from 49.3 in March, recording the sharpest deterioration in services output since data analytics firm IHS Markit started collecting the data in December 2005.
A figure of above 50 indicates expansion, while a sub-50 print signals contraction. The data indicated that the services sector was worse hit than the manufacturing sector.