Despite grappling with the pandemic’s second wave, India’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) remained quite strong at 55.5 in April. India continues to claw its way forward, maintaining the forecast for recovery and economic opportunity. New cases are finally trending down, while investments in tires, tractors, steel, and batteries trend up. For specific industry intelligence and other tidbits, read on.
At the beginning of May, the latest CRISIL report still projected GDP growth to be 11% for FY 2021. However, they noted that the intensity and duration of the second wave could bring that number down to 9%-10%.
Despite rising COVID-19 numbers, April’s manufacturing PMI remained strong at 55.5. The PMI has remained well above 50 since August 2020. The services PMI was 54 in April and has remained above 50 since September 2020.
Passenger vehicle sales decreased 10% between March and April as a direct result of the reimplemented pandemic lockdowns. In the same month, motorcycle sales dropped 33%. Total vehicle sales across all categories declined by 30%.
Last week, the government approved more Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes. This time, $2.7 billion was approved for battery manufacturing. The goal is to incentivize domestic battery production to reduce import supply chain dependence and boost electric vehicle (EV) adoption in the country.
Apollo Tyres Ltd. is investing $250 million for capacity expansion at their Andhra Pradesh factory.
CEAT Ltd. is investing $165 million for expanding truck and bus radial tire capacity at their Halol, Vadodara manufacturing facility.
Mahindra Tractors, the global leader in tractor sales volume, is setting up a new plant in Pithampur to double its manufacturing capacity of tractors.
Adani Total Gas, an Indian distributor of natural gas, is planning a capital expenditure of $200 million.
AM/NS India, formerly Essar Steel, is planning to invest $7 billion to expand production capacity at their Hazira steel plant to 18 million tons per year from its present capacity of 7 million.
