SBI Composite Index. Manufacturing activity registers declining momentum in February

The SBI Composite Index, an indicator for tracking India’s manufacturing activity, has registered a month-on-month decline in February.

The monthly index has slipped from 52.1 (moderate growth) in January 2015 to 48.3 (low decline) in February 2015.

An index value of less than 42 means large decline while a value of 42 to 46 means moderate decline, 46 to 50 (low decline), 50 to 52 (low growth), 52 to 55 (moderate growth) and above 55 (high growth).

“Sharp contraction in the month-on-month index may be attributed to less number of working days in February as compared to January,” SBI said in a research note.

The yearly SBI composite index for February 2015 inched up to 52.9 (moderate growth) from 52.1 (moderate growth) in January 2015, a two month high.

The Index captures two components of the manufacturing cycle – month-on-month and year-on-year-growth on a scale of 0 to 100.

An index above 50 implies growth over previous respective period while less than 50 suggests contraction over respective period.

SBI said revival in automobile sales, capital goods and consumer non-durables production and possible upturn in the credit off-take by large corporates segment highlights possible recovery in the economic activity in coming months.

However, on the flip side, consumer durable sales have not yet bottomed out. Bank credit and deposit continue to remain sluggish.

The SBI Composite Index rivals the existing data point from British lender HSBC. It has been developed on the basis of the bank’s internal loan portfolio, which mirrors the credit demand in the country, and other data sets available in public domain.

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