new delhi manufacturing activity in india hit a sixmonth high in july on strong export orders a private survey released on monday showed providing cheer after data last week pointed to a moderation in core sector growth in june the nikkei india manufacturing purchasing managers index pmi rose to 527 in july from 513 in june the indicator compiled by markit showed pmi is a surveybased index on which a reading below 50 denotes contraction this reflects stronger increases of new orders and output furthermore the sector was also boosted by the quickest expansion in export orders since february said pollyanna de lima economist at markit indias reading is in sharp contrast with that for the rest of asia where a slowdown in manufacturing in china seems to have pulled down regional economies the china pmi for july came in at 478 compared with 494 in the month before the rebound in july pmi to 527 14 pts reflects improved sentiment on both domestic better than expected monsoon as well as on global front eugreece deal citi said in a report the india data provides some relief from recent concerns over the economic recovery not shaping up as expected indian manufacturers continued to cut workforce numbers although the rate of job shedding was marginal about 96 of the panelists reported no change in employment compared to earlier month industrial growth unexpectedly slipped to 27 percent in may while moderation in core sector growth to 3 percent in june suggested it could slide further indias economy is forecast to expand about 75 percent in the current year although the official estimate is pegged as high as 81 percent firstquarter apriljune gdp numbers will be released at the end of the month gdp growth in fy15 was 73 percent the correlation between pmi and industrial production numbers is not very strong because the latter measures quantitative output while the former is a sample survey of expectations new business from abroad rose at the fastest pace since february the survey showed a solid and accelerated increase in new orders led firms to raise production accordingly markit said in the statement adding that there was solid improvement in the health of the countrys goodsproducing sector read also indian manufacturing should follow auto cos lead in frugal engineering amitabh kant manufacturers reported a marginal increase in costs that they were unable to pass on to consumers selling prices were unchanged on average with companies highlighting efforts to secure new business markit said indian manufacturers continued to cut workforce numbers although the rate of job shedding was marginal about 96 percent of the panellists reported no change in employment from levels recorded in the prior month although the latest data suggest that the manufacturing upturn gained traction worries regarding the labour market persist continued job shedding highlights the concern felt by businesses towards the outlook with firms failing to increase workforce numbers to any great extent since early 2014 de lima said et bureau published on