Today, the Reserve Bank released the results of its 64th round of the quarterly order books, inventories and capacity utilisation survey (OBICUS), which was conducted during Q4:2023-24 and covered 813 manufacturing companies. The survey¹ provides a snapshot of demand conditions in India’s manufacturing sector during October-December 2023.

Highlights:

• At the aggregate level, the capacity utilisation (CU) in the manufacturing sector increased to 74.7 per cent in Q3:2023-24 from 74.0 per cent in the previous quarter (Chart 1 and Table 1). The seasonally adjusted CU increased sequentially (q-o-q) by 10 basis points to 74.6 per cent.

• The value of new orders received by the responding companies during Q3:2023-24 remained close to that in the previous quarter. On an annual (y-o-y) basis, however, the value of new orders increased by nearly 10 per cent (Chart 2 and Table 2A).

• The finished goods inventory (FGI) to sales ratio increased marginally in Q3:2023-24 from its level in the previous quarter while the raw material inventory² (RMI) to sales ratio remained stable (Chart 3 and Table 3A).

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

ANNEX 1: Data Tables

Note: The computations of order book growths and inventory to sales ratios are based on methodology given in the RBI press release dated October 8, 2021 (link: https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/PublicationsView.aspx?id=20650) and not on the basis of averages given in the above tables. 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 February 08, 2024.

² So far, the survey 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.