India's services sector slows down a bit in September
India's services sector just hit the brakes a little in September—PMI dropped to 60.9 from August's 62.9, coming down from a 15-year high.
The main reason? Export orders grew at their slowest pace since March, thanks to tough global price competition.
Still, local demand and tech investments kept things buzzing.
New business still coming in
Even with the slowdown, the sector is going strong—HSBC's Services PMI was at its second-highest in over a year.
New business is still rolling in (just not as fast), and most companies aren't hiring much right now.
Input costs rising at slowest pace since March
Good news on inflation: input costs and service prices rose at their slowest rate since March 2025, so businesses aren't passing on big price hikes to customers.
India's overall inflation nudged up to 2.07% in August but stayed well within the RBI's comfort zone.
RBI kept repo rate unchanged at 5.50%
With inflation easing off, the Reserve Bank of India left its repo rate unchanged at 5.50%.
And even though overall business activity cooled slightly (the Composite PMI dipped too), both manufacturing and services are still showing solid growth vibes.