May services sector growth fastest in seven months

Services PMI rises to 52.2 in May, up from 50.2 in April

Services, the dominating sector of the Indian economy, grew at the fastest rate in May since October 2016, more than neutralising the tepid rise in the manufacturing sector, according to the widely tracked Nikkei purchasing managers’ index (PMI) survey.

The sector also saw new jobs being created at the highest rate in almost four years, which cushioned the fall in the number of new jobs created in manufacturing. If growth in the services sector continued at this rate, the country’s economic growth would be higher in the first quarter of the current financial year than in the previous quarter, said the