Today, the Reserve Bank released the results of its 71st round of the quarterly Order Books, Inventories, and Capacity Utilisation Survey (OBICUS), which was conducted during Q3:2025-26 and covered 1,114 manufacturing companies. The survey¹ provides a snapshot of the demand conditions in India’s manufacturing sector during July-September 2025.

Highlights:

• At the aggregate level, capacity utilisation (CU) in the manufacturing sector increased marginally to 74.3 per cent in Q2:2025-26 from 74.1 per cent in the previous quarter. However, the seasonally adjusted CU (CU-SA) declined by 100 basis points from the previous quarter and stood at 74.8 per cent in Q2:2025-26. Both CU and CU-SA for Q2:2025-26 increased by 10 basis points as compared to their levels in the corresponding quarter of the previous year (Chart 1 and Table 1).

• Manufacturers reported higher growth in new orders during Q2:2025-26 on a sequential (q-o-q) basis. On an annual (y-o-y) basis, the growth continued to remain stable (Chart 2 and Table 2A).

• As a ratio to sales, the finished goods inventory (FGI) remained stable while the raw material inventory (RMI) declined during Q2:2025-26 (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.

¹The 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 01, 2025.