India's manufacturing growth contracted sharply in April, as weakness continued to persist, a business survey by Markit on behalf of Nikkei Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index showed.

The upturn in new export orders was sustained, although growth was at a six-month low.

There were divergences with regards to stock levels, with holdings of finished goods continuing to fall while pre-production inventories rose again.

On the price front, input costs increased at the fastest rate in 11 months, whereas charge inflation eased since March.

Reflecting softer contributions from four of its five sub-components (the exception being suppliers' delivery times), the seasonally adjusted Nikkei India Manufacturing
Purchasing Managers' Index a composite single-figure indicator of manufacturing performance - fell from 52.4 in March to 50.5 in April.

The latest figure pointed to the weakest improvement in business conditions in
the current four- month sequence of above-50.0 readings.

"The PMI data for India show a marked slowdown in output expansion during April, as growth of new work ground to a halt," said Pollyanna De Lima, an economist at Markit.

"Looking into the sub-sector data, consumer goods producers fared better than their
intermediate and investment goods counterparts where both output and new orders declined," she stated.

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