Today, the Reserve Bank released results of the 39th round of the Order Books, Inventories and Capacity Utilisation Survey (OBICUS) for the quarter July-September 2017 covering 756 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 slight uptick and stood at 71.8 per cent in Q2:2017-18, co-moving with the de-trended index of industrial production2 (IIP) for the manufacturing sector (Chart 1). However, seasonally adjusted CU declined marginally. 2) Order Books: New orders received by the companies in Q2:2017-18 recorded a substantial growth over their levels in the previous quarter and also a year ago (Chart 2). 3) Finished Goods Inventory (FGI) to Sales Ratio: Drawdown of the FGI led to marginal decline in FGI to sales ratio in Q2:2017-18 and it was also lower than its level a year ago (Chart 3). 4) Raw Material Inventory (RMI) to Sales Ratio: Similarly, destocking of the RMI resulted in lower RMI to sales ratio in Q2:2017-18 sequentially. 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 | Q2:2016-17 | 902 | 72.0 | 120.0 | 0.1 | Q3:2016-17 | 710 | 71.0 | 119.5 | -1.5 | Q4:2016-17 | 724 | 74.6 | 125.2 | 3.3 | Q1:2017-18 | 805 | 71.2 | 121.1 | -1.8 | Q2:2017-18 | 756 | 71.8 | 123.0 | -0.9 | *: Index of Industrial Production (Base: 2011-12) | Table 1.2: Order Books (Q2:2016-17 to Q2:2017-18) (Based on common set of 123 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 | Q2:2016-17 | 1.213 | 0.970 | 1.178 | 2.9 | -2.9 | -2.9 | -11.3 | 1.0 | -4.7 | Q3:2016-17 | 1.177 | 0.963 | 1.139 | -3.0 | -0.8 | -3.3 | -5.0 | -7.4 | -15.5 | Q4:2016-17 | 1.138 | 1.131 | 1.022 | -3.3 | 17.4 | -10.3 | -15.4 | 19.9 | -13.5 | Q1:2017-18 | 1.021 | 1.067 | 1.046 | -10.3 | -5.6 | 2.4 | -13.5 | 6.8 | -13.7 | Q2:2017-18 | 1.046 | 1.254 | 1.192 | 2.5 | 17.5 | 13.9 | -13.8 | 29.3 | 1.2 | **: As required for calculating growth rates in recent 5 quarters. ***: Not seasonally adjusted | Table 1.3: Average Sales and Inventories (Q2:2016-17 to Q2:2017-18) (Based on common set of 363 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 | Q2:2016-17 | 2.869 | 1.548 | 0.619 | 0.214 | 0.715 | 53.9 | 21.6 | 24.9 | Q3:2016-17 | 2.902 | 1.627 | 0.623 | 0.240 | 0.764 | 56.1 | 21.5 | 26.3 | Q4:2016-17 | 3.188 | 1.604 | 0.602 | 0.230 | 0.773 | 50.3 | 18.9 | 24.2 | Q1:2017-18 | 2.943 | 1.635 | 0.613 | 0.235 | 0.787 | 55.6 | 20.8 | 26.8 | Q2:2017-18 | 2.948 | 1.601 | 0.601 | 0.238 | 0.763 | 54.3 | 20.4 | 25.9 | RM - Raw Material; WiP - Work in progress; FG - Finished Goods; Inv – Inventory. | |