India’s services sector advanced robustly in November, supported by a strong recovery in local demand but raised price pressures are still a significant concern. India grew fastest between important economies, backed by vaccinations and more robust spending. The economy increased 8.4 per cent annually during the July-September quarter.

The Services Purchasing Managers’ Index raised to 58.1 in November from 58.4 in October. Still, last month’s growth rate was the second-best in over a decade and above the 50-mark dividing growth from reduction for the fourth continuous month. “The recovery of the Indian service sector extended to November. Companies were convinced that output levels would continue to increase in the year ahead. Still, concerns of inflationary pressures struck again,” Pollyanna De Lima, associate economics director at IHS Markit, said.

Despite the most significant jump in input values since April, companies were only able to benefit customers. However, robust expansion in services activity with solid growth in manufacturing boosted the composite index to 59.2 in November from 58.7 in October.