India’s Experimental Services Output Index Rises to 14% in August
Key Facts
Growth in India’s experimental Services Output Index rose to 14% in August from 13.5% in July, according to data reported by Business Standard. The index reflects changes in output volumes across services subse-sectors, rather than providing a comprehensive and final reading of the services economy. The comparison between the two months shows that the acceleration in the overall index coincided with clear differences in the performance of the activities included in its calculation.
Retail trade led the subsectors, growing 19.9% in August compared with 18.5% in July, according to Business Standard. Real estate and repair services each recorded growth of 17.6% in August. The most notable shift was in repair services, which moved from a 5% contraction in July to growth the following month. By contrast, growth in administrative and support services slowed to 13.1% from 20.9% in July. These movements indicate that the pace of expansion varied across activities even as the overall index accelerated.
Postal, courier and warehousing indicators improved compared with July, according to the same report. Growth in postal and courier services rose to 13.2% in August from 8.7% in the previous month, while warehousing growth increased to 11.2% from 9.8%. On the weaker side, air transport output contracted 9.6% year on year in August, the weakest performance among the sectors listed in the Indian Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation’s table. Arts, entertainment and recreation activity also contracted 4.7% after growing 1.7% in July, marking the first contraction in the series. The results show that gains in some logistics and consumer services coincided with declines in other activities.
The index remains limited in scope at its current stage: the ministry released its first experimental edition in July 2026, covering 19 subsectors, according to the government’s Press Information Bureau. The Ministry of Statistics says the Services Output Index measures short-term changes in sector output volumes against a specified base period and focuses primarily on the formal sector. The ministry says services have contributed more than 50% of India’s gross value added since fiscal year 2013-2014, making the development of a regular reading of the sector relevant to tracking economic activity. The index draws on sources including administrative data, goods and services tax data, and a survey of service establishments. The ministry said experimental indicators will be released for some time to monitor their stability and robustness before moving to regular compilation and publication.
In a separate survey, the preliminary HSBC services activity index rose to 56.2 points in October from 55.2 in September, according to Business Standard. The manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index held at 54.9 points after recording 55.1 in September. The survey attributed the improvement in activity to market conditions and an increase in new orders, and said export orders posted their fastest rise in 6 months. Input costs also rose at their slowest pace in nearly a year, while selling-price inflation slowed to its weakest pace since March 2025. The final reading of the October services index is due on 4 November 2026.
The government’s plans include expanding the index’s coverage to include education, human health, residential care, public administration and defence, according to a Press Information Bureau statement. The ministry said the proposed expansion would raise coverage to about 78.4% of services value added. This is part of the development of the experimental index, which began with an edition covering 19 subsectors. August data remain part of this phase, which the ministry said would continue until the stability and robustness of sector indicators had been monitored. The article did not specify when regular publication of the overall index would begin.