Today, the Reserve Bank released the results of the 41st round of the Order Books, Inventories and Capacity Utilisation Survey (OBICUS) for the quarter January-March 2018 covering 1,061 manufacturing companies. The survey provides a snapshot of demand conditions in the Indian manufacturing sector1. Highlights: 1) Capacity Utilisation (CU): At the aggregate level, CU recorded a seasonal pickup to 75.2 per cent in Q4:2017-182; the de-trended index of industrial production3 (IIP) rose sharply. (Chart 1) 2) Order Books: The buoyancy in new orders (as observed in year-on-year growth) moderated in Q4:2017-18. (Chart 2) 3) Finished Goods Inventory (FGI) to Sales Ratio: With robust growth in sales, the FGI to sales ratio declined from the level seen in the previous quarter (Chart 3). 4) Raw Material Inventory (RMI) to Sales Ratio: Producers seem to have stocked up on raw materials leaving the RMI to Sales unchanged (Chart 3). Historical time series have been made available in excel format.
ANNEX 1: Data Tables | Table 1.1: IIP*-Manufacturing and Capacity Utilisation (CU) | | Quarter | Number of responding companies | Capacity Utilisation | IIP-Manufacturing
(Quarterly Average) | De-trended Quarterly
IIP-Manufacturing | | Q4:2016-17 | 724 | 74.6 | 125.2 | 1.9 | | Q1:2017-18 | 805 | 71.2 | 121.1 | -3.4 | | Q2:2017-18 | 756 | 71.8 | 123.0 | -2.7 | | Q3:2017-18 | 940 | 74.1 | 127.8 | 0.9 | | Q4:2017-18 | 921 | 75.2 | 134.2 | 6.1 | | *: Index of Industrial Production (Base: 2011-12) |
Table 1.2: Order Books (Q4:2016-17 to Q4:2017-18)
(Based on common set of 120 companies in 9 quarters)** | | Quarter | Amount (₹ Billion) | Q-o-Q Growth (%)*** | Y-o-Y Growth (%) | | Average Backlog Orders | Average New Order Book | Average Pending Orders | Average Backlog Orders | Average New Order Book | Average Pending Orders | Average Backlog Orders | Average New Order Book | Average Pending Orders | | Q4:2016-17 | 1.191 | 1.204 | 1.043 | -2.1 | 17.2 | -12.5 | -20.7 | 30.2 | -16.0 | | Q1:2017-18 | 1.042 | 1.259 | 1.129 | -12.5 | 4.5 | 8.3 | -16.3 | 16.0 | -10.7 | | Q2:2017-18 | 1.128 | 1.567 | 1.453 | 8.3 | 24.5 | 28.7 | -10.6 | 56.6 | 19.6 | | Q3:2017-18 | 1.453 | 1.799 | 1.894 | 28.7 | 14.8 | 30.4 | 19.5 | 75.2 | 58.8 | | Q4:2017-18 | 1.923 | 1.300 | 1.695 | 32.3 | -27.8 | -10.5 | 61.5 | 8.0 | 62.6 | **: As required for calculating growth rates in recent 5 quarters.
***: Not seasonally adjusted |
Table 1.3: Average Sales and Inventories (Q4:2016-17 to Q4:2017-18)
(Based on common set of 289 companies in 5 quarters) | | Quarter | Amount (₹ Billion) | Ratio (per cent) | | Average Sales | Average Total Inv | Average FG Inv | Average WiP Inv | Average RM Inv | Total Inv /Sales | FG Inv /Sales | RM Inv /Sales | | Q4:2016-17 | 8.899 | 3.852 | 1.262 | 0.432 | 2.158 | 43.3 | 14.2 | 24.2 | | Q1:2017-18 | 7.997 | 3.631 | 1.331 | 0.426 | 1.873 | 45.4 | 16.6 | 23.4 | | Q2:2017-18 | 8.160 | 3.677 | 1.319 | 0.428 | 1.930 | 45.1 | 16.2 | 23.7 | | Q3:2017-18 | 8.608 | 3.891 | 1.389 | 0.456 | 2.047 | 45.2 | 16.1 | 23.8 | | Q4:2017-18 | 9.453 | 4.138 | 1.416 | 0.476 | 2.247 | 43.8 | 15.0 | 23.8 | | RM - Raw Material; WiP - Work in progress; FG - Finished Goods; Inv – Inventory. |
|