India's factory slump deepens in May, headcount slides: PMI

India's factory activity contracted sharply in May following a historic decline in April as a government-imposed lockdown to control the coronavirus hammered demand, a survey showed, leading firms to cut jobs at the fastest pace on record.

Asia's third-largest economy will contract this quarter for the first time since the mid-1990s, a may Reuters poll found, having expanded 3.1 per cent last quarter, its weakest annual pace in at least eight years.

The Nikkei Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index, compiled by IHS Markit, increased to 30.8 last month from April's record low of 27.4, still well below the 50-mark separating growth from contraction.

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