Thirteen of the 19 services sub-sectors recorded double-digit growth in August, up from 10 in July, while 17 sub-sectors expanded, the same as in the previous month, according to the fifth print of the trial Index of Services Production (ISP), released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) on Thursday.
Repair services returned to growth, while arts, entertainment and recreation joined air transport in contraction.
Eleven sub-sectors recorded a higher year-on-year growth rate in August compared with July. Retail trade recorded the fastest growth at 19.9 per cent, compared with 18.5 per cent in July.
Real estate and repair services grew 17.6 per cent each, followed by insurance at 16.5 per cent, banking at 14.9 per cent, and professional, scientific and technical services, including research and development, at 14.2 per cent.
Administrative and support services, which led in July, slowed to 13.1 per cent from 20.9 per cent.
The trial ISP, with 2024-25 as the base year, accounts for nearly 60 per cent of India’s services output. It is the country’s first high-frequency measure of monthly activity in the sector, filling a long-standing gap alongside the Index of Industrial Production.
Transport segments were mixed. Postal and courier services quickened to 13.2 per cent from 8.7 per cent, warehousing to 11.2 per cent from 9.8 per cent, and water transport to 9.5 per cent from 7.7 per cent.
On the other hand, road transport eased to 9.4 per cent from 9.9 per cent. Railway transport growth roughly halved to 3.7 per cent from 7.5 per cent, the slowest among the sub-sectors that expanded.
Data further showed that information and broadcasting dropped out of the double-digit group, while four sub-sectors entered it: repair services, insurance, postal and courier services, and warehousing.
Data also revealed that repair services saw the biggest pickup in growth, swinging to 17.6 per cent growth from a 5 per cent contraction in July. Insurance followed.
On the other hand, the sharpest deceleration came in administrative and support services. Next came arts, entertainment and recreation, which swung to a 4.7 per cent contraction from 1.7 per cent growth in July. It was the segment’s first contraction since the release of the data series.
Air transport contracted for a fifth consecutive month, and the decline widened to 9.6 per cent from 8.4 per cent in July.
In index terms, accommodation and food stood highest at 145.3, followed by retail trade at 139.2, repair services at 130.7, road transport at 128.4 and warehousing at 126.8.
Meanwhile, air transport stood lowest at 89.2, followed by information and broadcasting at 98.6.
