Order Books, Inventories and Capacity Utilisation Survey on the Manufacturing sector for Q4:2024-25

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Published on August 06, 2025

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Order Books, Inventories and Capacity Utilisation Survey on the Manufacturing sector for Q4:2024-25

Today, the Reserve Bank released the results of its 69th round of the quarterly Order Books, Inventories, and Capacity Utilisation Survey (OBICUS), which was conducted during Q1:2025-26 and covered 1,030 manufacturing companies. The survey¹ provides a snapshot of the demand conditions in India’s manufacturing sector during January-March 2025.

Highlights:

At the aggregate level, capacity utilisation (CU) in the manufacturing sector increased to 77.7 per cent in Q4:2024-25, from 75.4 per cent in the previous quarter. The seasonally adjusted CU (CU-SA) increased by 20 basis points from the previous quarter and stands at 75.5 per cent in Q4:2024-25. Both CU and CU-SA for Q4:2024-25 are higher compared to their levels in the corresponding quarter of the previous year (Chart 1 and Table 1).

Chart 1: Capacity Utilisation (CU) and Seasonally Adjusted CU (CU-SA)

Manufacturers reported higher growth in new orders during Q4:2024-25 on sequential (q-o-q) basis. On an annual (y-o-y) basis the growth remained stable (Chart 2 and Table 2A).

As a ratio to sales, the finished goods inventory (FGI) remained stable while the raw material inventory² (RMI) decreased marginally during Q4:2024-25 (Chart 3 and Table 3A).

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

ANNEX 1: Data Tables

Table 1: Capacity Utilisation
Quarter	Number of responding companies	Capacity Utilisation	Seasonally Adjusted Capacity Utilisation
Q4:2023-24	832	76.8	74.6
Q1:2024-25	839	74.0	75.8
Q2:2024-25	932	74.2	74.7
Q3:2024-25	959	75.4	75.3
Q4:2024-25	960	77.7	75.5
Note: The Seasonally Adjusted Capacity Utilisation is calculated using X13-ARIMA-SEATS (Signal Extraction in ARIMA Time Series) taking the Covid-19 lockdown quarter Q1:2020-21 as an additive outlier.

Table 2A: Order Books Growth
Quarter	Number of companies	Q-o-Q Growth # (per cent)			Y-o-Y Growth # (per cent)
Quarter	Number of companies	Backlog Orders	New Order Book	Pending Orders	Backlog Orders	New Order Book	Pending Orders
Q4:2023-24	224	3.4	10.0	0.2	18.9	6.8	10.4
Q1:2024-25	238	2.0	-0.4	7.2	11.2	12.3	16.2
Q2:2024-25	315	7.2	1.1	2.8	9.8	4.1	9.9
Q3:2024-25	315	2.6	1.6	2.1	12.7	8.6	13.2
Q4:2024-25	353	0.7	7.9	-0.2	6.7	7.4	7.8
#: Growth rates are calculated using common set of companies responding in three survey rounds, namely the current quarter, one quarter ago and the corresponding quarter a year ago.

Table 2B: Average Size of Order Books
Quarter	Number of companies	Average Amount (₹ crore)
Quarter	Number of companies	Backlog Orders	New Order Book	Pending Orders
Q4:2023-24	224	221.6	267.2	222.2
Q1:2024-25	238	266.4	292.5	285.8
Q2:2024-25	315	257.8	309.0	291.9
Q3:2024-25	315	232.9	225.8	238.5
Q4:2024-25	353	302.4	317.0	303.9

Table 3A: Inventory to Sales Ratios
Quarter	Number of Companies	Ratio (per cent) ##
Quarter	Number of Companies	Total Inventory / Sales	Finished Goods Inventory / Sales	Raw Material Inventory / Sales
Q4:2023-24	803	65.4	26.6	24.3
Q1:2024-25	800	67.4	26.1	24.8
Q2:2024-25	927	69.3	26.0	25.1
Q3:2024-25	907	69.4	24.3	25.5
Q4:2024-25	932	66.5	24.7	23.4
##: Weighted average of industry level ratios using Gross Value Added as weights.

Table 3B: Average Sales and Inventories
Quarter	Number of Companies	Average Amount (₹ crore)
Quarter	Number of Companies	Sales	Total Inventory	Finished Goods Inventory	Work in progress Inventory	Raw Material Inventory
Q4:2023-24	803	1185.6	585.0	228.8	104.9	197.8
Q1:2024-25	800	1016.8	551.0	192.7	106.5	195.5
Q2:2024-25	927	987.7	558.1	198.3	111.2	195.0
Q3:2024-25	907	1182.4	496.4	175.8	94.8	171.5
Q4:2024-25	932	1309.4	508.8	187.4	111.0	156.1

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 April 09, 2025.

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.