Today, the Reserve Bank released the results of its 61st round of the quarterly Order Books, Inventories and Capacity Utilisation Survey (OBICUS) conducted during Q1:2023-24 covering 752 manufacturing companies. The survey¹ provides a snapshot of demand conditions in India’s manufacturing sector during January-March 2023.

Highlights:

• At the aggregate level, capacity utilisation (CU) in the manufacturing sector increased for the third successive quarter to 76.3 per cent in Q4:2022-23 from 74.3 per cent recorded in the previous quarter (Chart 1 and Table 1). The seasonally adjusted CU for Q4:2022-23 remained stable at 74.1 per cent.

• Manufacturing companies received more new orders in Q4:2022-23 as compared with the level in the previous quarter as well as in the corresponding quarter a year ago (Chart 2 and Table 2A).

• The ratios of both the raw material inventory (RMI) to sales and the finished goods inventory (FGI) to sales increased marginally from their levels in the previous quarter (Chart 3 and Table 3A).

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

ANNEX 1: Data Tables

Note: The computations of order book growths and inventory to sales ratios are based on methodology given in the RBI press release dated October 8, 2021 (link: https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/PublicationsView.aspx?id=20650) and not on the basis of averages given in the above tables.

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 April 06, 2023.