Today, the Reserve Bank released the results of the 42nd round of the Order Books, Inventories and Capacity Utilisation Survey (OBICUS) for the quarter April-June 2018 covering 994 manufacturing companies. The survey provides a snapshot of demand conditions in India’s manufacturing sector1. Highlights: 1) Capacity Utilisation (CU): At the aggregate level, CU recorded a seasonal decline and stood at 73.8 per cent in Q1:2018-19, co-moving with the de-trended index of industrial production2 (IIP) (Chart 1). However, seasonally adjusted CU rose by 1.7 percentage points to 74.9 per cent in Q1:2018-19. 2) Order Books: New orders growth regained buoyancy in Q1:2018-19. (Chart 2) 3) Finished Goods Inventory (FGI) to Sales Ratio: The FGI to sales ratio rose from its level in the previous quarter, due to relatively higher growth in finished goods, but remained lower than its level a year ago (Chart 3). 4) Raw Material Inventory (RMI) to Sales Ratio: Producers seem to have stocked up on raw materials in anticipation of a rise in demand in the forthcoming festival season leading to a sharp rise in the RMI to Sales ratio (Chart 3). Historical time series have been made available in excel format. 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 | Q1:2017-18 | 805 | 71.2 | 121.1 | -2.9 | Q2:2017-18 | 756 | 71.8 | 123.0 | -2.1 | Q3:2017-18 | 940 | 74.1 | 127.8 | 1.6 | Q4:2017-18 | 921 | 75.2 | 134.6 | 7.2 | Q1:2018-19 | 850 | 73.8 | 127.2 | -1.3 | *: Index of Industrial Production (Base: 2011-12) | Table 1.2: Order Books (Q1:2017-18 to Q1:2018-19) (Based on common set of 103 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 | Q1:2017-18 | 0.717 | 1.263 | 0.807 | -16.2 | 6.4 | 13.5 | -16.7 | 15.6 | -11.3 | Q2:2017-18 | 0.806 | 1.511 | 1.042 | 12.5 | 19.6 | 29.2 | -11.2 | 47.9 | 18.6 | Q3:2017-18 | 1.042 | 1.755 | 1.468 | 29.3 | 16.2 | 40.8 | 18.3 | 75.2 | 71.2 | Q4:2017-18 | 1.471 | 1.312 | 1.314 | 41.1 | -25.2 | -10.5 | 71.9 | 10.5 | 84.9 | Q1:2018-19 | 1.311 | 1.808 | 1.722 | -10.9 | 37.8 | 31.1 | 82.9 | 43.1 | 113.5 | **: As required for calculating growth rates in recent 5 quarters. ***: Not seasonally adjusted | Table 1.3: Average Sales and Inventories (Q1:2017-18 to Q1:2018-19) (Based on common set of 302 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 | Q1:2017-18 | 9.730 | 4.179 | 1.537 | 0.442 | 2.200 | 43.0 | 15.8 | 22.6 | Q2:2017-18 | 10.802 | 4.169 | 1.516 | 0.441 | 2.212 | 38.6 | 14.0 | 20.5 | Q3:2017-18 | 10.667 | 4.416 | 1.555 | 0.472 | 2.389 | 41.4 | 14.6 | 22.4 | Q4:2017-18 | 11.482 | 4.690 | 1.611 | 0.495 | 2.585 | 40.8 | 14.0 | 22.5 | Q1:2018-19 | 11.836 | 5.220 | 1.756 | 0.540 | 2.923 | 44.1 | 14.8 | 24.7 | RM - Raw Material; WiP - Work in progress; FG - Finished Goods; Inv – Inventory. | |