Manufacturing conditions in India improved for the fourth straight month in April. The upturn was signalled by the headline Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index - a diffusion index designed to measure the performance of the sector - matching March's reading of 52.5.

Slower increases in output, stocks of purchases and employment were offset by stronger growth of new orders and lengthening delivery times, said a release from Markit.

It added that survey participants attributed new business wins to improving demand conditions and greater advertising. Overall, the upturn in order books was the most pronounced since last October. New export orders rose for the third month in a row, but the rate of expansion eased from March and was slight overall.

Concurrently, output grew solidly, though growth softened slightly since the preceding survey period. Manufacturing jobs rose for the second consecutive month in April, which panellists related to a combination of greater production needs and expectations of a pick up in demand. Nonetheless, the pace of employment growth remained slight overall.

Goods producers signalled a further accumulation of outstanding business, the eleventh in as many months. That said, the rate of expansion eased to the weakest in this sequence and was only slight. Where backlogs increased, survey members reported pending client payments. Stocks of finished goods dropped for the twenty-second month running during April.

However, the rate of depletion slowed to the weakest in the year-to-date. According to panel members, orders were sometimes met from stocks.

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