'Feb economic activity in India saw small uptick'

Top Stories

»	49% Indian startups now from tier 2, 3 cities: Jitendra Singh
»	'India ranks 3rd in global startup ecosystem & number of unicorns'
»	Tripura exported over 9K tonnes of pineapples in 2 years
»	CPI inflation eases to 6.71% in July, IIP falls to 12.3%
»	Rupee depreciates 12 paise to close at 79.64 against US dollar

SME Times News Bureau | 29 Mar, 2017
Economic activity in country in February registered a small improvement led by foreign trade and consumer indicators, an analyst report said on Tuesday.

"Economic activity saw a small uptick in February with our Activity Index monthly growth improving to 3.1 percent versus 0.9 percent in January," US investment banking firm Jefferies said in a report titled "India: Frequent Factors, Mixed Trends".

"Trends across various indicators though are mixed, with foreign trade, steel, airport traffic and PV (passenger vehicles) being the key positives while freight, electricity, oil, 2W (2 wheelers) and inflation were the key negatives in February," it said.

The American analyst said that of the 36 "indicators" it tracked, "12 are improving and 13 deteriorating".

While the key positives were a sharp improvement in India's foreign trade and auto sales, "the key negatives were the industry and freight data".

The report said trends across indicators continue to remain "mixed".

"While foreign trade has seen improvement, port and railway traffic remains muted. Among industry, most indicators remain weak with steel and coal being the exception."

"Among consumer, auto indicators - PV and CV (commercial vehicles) - have improved led by channel stocking due to change in regulations. Ex of these, airport traffic remains strong while oil consumption and 2W remain weak," Jefferies said.

"Inflation is seeing an uptick with WPI (Wholesale Price Index) at 6 percent plus and CPI (Consumer Price Index) increasing to 3.7 percent," it added.