Today, the Reserve Bank released the results of its 67th round of the quarterly Order Books, Inventories, and Capacity Utilisation Survey (OBICUS), which was conducted during Q3:2024-25 and covered 1,008 manufacturing companies. The survey¹ provides a snapshot of the demand conditions in India’s manufacturing sector during July-September 2024.

Highlights:

• At the aggregate level, capacity utilisation (CU) in the manufacturing sector increased marginally to 74.2 per cent in Q2:2024-25, from 74.0 per cent in the previous quarter. The seasonally adjusted CU (CU-SA), however, declined by 110 basis points from the previous quarter and stands at 74.7 per cent in Q2:2024-25. Both CU and CU-SA for Q2:2024-05 are higher as compared with the corresponding quarter in the previous year (Chart 1 and Table 1).

• Manufacturers reported higher sequential (q-o-q) growth in new orders during Q2:2024-25. On an annual (y-o-y) basis, however, new order growth moderated. (Chart 2 and Table 2A).

• As a ratio to sales, both the finished goods inventory (FGI) and the raw material inventory² (RMI) remained stable during Q2:2024-25 (Chart 3 and Table 3A).

Note - Please see the excel file for time series data.

ANNEX 1: Data Tables

Note: The methodology for computations of order book growth and inventory to sales ratios is given in the RBI press release dated October 8, 2021 (link: https://rbi.org.in/en/web/rbi/-/publications/obicus-survey-on-the-manufacturing-sector-for-q1-2021-22-20650). Please also see footnote 2 on direct estimation of RMI since 53rd round of the survey.

¹ The survey responses are voluntary, and the results reflect the views of the respondents, which are not necessarily shared by the Reserve Bank. Results of the previous survey round were released on the Bank’s website on October 09, 2024.

² The estimates of raw materials inventory (including stores and spares, loose tools, stock-in-trade, and other inventories) were arrived at by netting out finished goods inventory and work-in-progress inventory from total inventory. Since the 53rd round of the survey (i.e., Q4:2020−21), however, direct data on raw material inventory (excluding stores and spares, loose tools, stock-in-trade, and other inventories) are also being collected from survey respondents, in parallel. Estimates of raw materials inventory based on the additional reporting are presented here.