By Madhusudan Sahoo

Copyright deccanchronicle

New Delhi: After months of robust performance, India’s services sector expanded at a slower pace in September due to weaker international demand. The HSBC India services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 60.9 from a 15-year high of 62.9 clocked in August. Despite the fall, the September reading was the fourth consecutive month on the index, holding above the 60-mark and indicating robust business expansion and resilient demand conditions, a private survey showed on Monday.In the PMI parlance, a print above 50 means expansion, while a score below 50 denotes contraction. As per the survey, part of the slowdown reflected softer improvements in international demand for Indian services. “External sales still rose in September, but did so to the least extent since March. Companies identified the supply of services at lower prices elsewhere as the main factor behind the slowdown in the growth of export orders,” the survey said.Commenting on the survey, Pranjul Bhandari, chief India economist at HSBC said that business activity in India’s services sector eased in September from the recent high August level. “Most trackers moderated, but nothing in the survey suggested there is a big loss in growth momentum in services,” Bhandari said.On the price front, the survey also showed that the pace of inflation was modest, the slowest since March and broadly in line with the long-run series average, as prices charged for the provision of Indian services likewise increased at a weaker rate in September. “Job creation slowed during September and employment rose at a modest pace, as fewer than 5 per cent of monitored companies reported hiring growth,” the survey said.Meanwhile, companies’ assessments of growth prospects improved in September, with the overall level of positive sentiment reaching a 6-month high. Survey participants identified several tailwinds to the year-ahead outlook for activity, including advertising, efficiency gains, plans to price competitively and tax cuts. “The future activity index rose to its highest level since March, indicating strengthening optimism among services firms about business prospects,” Bhandari said.