Indian economy is losing momentum, data shows
Live MintMumbai/New Delhi: The Indian economy’s momentum continues to slow, shows the latest update of the Mint Macro Tracker, launched in October last year to provide a state-of-the-economy report each month based on trends across 16 high-frequency economic indicators. January’s score is also a shade worse than that of December 2018—which itself marked a downward slide compared to previous months—when five indicators were in the green, and eight indicators were in the red. Data from the consumer confidence surveys of the Reserve Bank of India shows that the gap between respondents who claim to have raised non-essential spending and respondents who claim to have lowered non-essential spending has been shrinking in recent months, with 14.3% net positive response in December 2018 compared with 22.3% net positive response in September 2018. While core sector growth has continued to disappoint with the latest growth figures showing an 18-month low, the purchasing managers’ index manufacturing index showed an improved reading in January compared with the previous month.