India's services growth at 6-month low in Jan, input costs at decade high

India's dominant services sector expanded at its slowest pace in six months in January as restrictions due to a new wave of COVID-19 cases and surging prices weighed on demand, a private survey showed.
 

The IHS Markit Services Purchasing Managers' Index slumped to 51.5 in January from 55.5 in December, far below the 53.0 expected in a Reuters poll of economists but still above the 50-mark separating growth from contraction.

"The escalation of the pandemic and reintroduction of curfews had a detrimental impact on growth across the service sector," noted Pollyanna De Lima, economics associate director at IHS Markit.

"Both