Asian Economy: Overview, Growth and Development - Are bad days in Indian economy over?

Byline: S. Kamal Hayder Kazmi

There is suddenly buzz around Indian economy, once again. A survey has shown that monthly manufacturing activity for January has suddenly shot up to an eight-year high in India.

This is remarkable in the sense that it definitely conveys that their is strong demand surge at the factory gates. This means consumption, which had been lying laggard, has spiked in India. Continued low consumption was being held responsible for longish economic slowdown in India.

Now, the Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), prepared by IHS Markit, rose from 52.7 in December 2019 to 55.3 in January 2020.

PMI is a key to understand manufacturing activity. A PMI in excess of 50 indicates expansion in manufacturing activity. The surprise improvement has been attributed to spike in demand.

The main pull force is consumer goods segment. But the real good news could be in expansion in capital goods segment...