The growth in manufacturing could also be attributed to India’s new rulebook of Atmanirbhar Bharat

Despite a devastative impact of the Covid-19 on the world economy, India has seen a steady recovery in the manufacturing sector, helping the country climb two notches to the third position among key emerging markets in September.

According to Live Mint’s emerging markets tracker, the manufacturing growth reflected in the first year-on-year rise in exports in seven months, and the highest reading of the purchasing managers’ index in over eight years. In September, India’s merchandise exports rose 6% on-year to $27.6 billion.

Among the other emerging markets that have reported their export data for September, only China (10% growth) fared better than India.

The growth in manufacturing could also be attributed to the new rulebook of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’. India has made a point to rely on its manufacturing capabilities, for which the government of India has relaxed the rules to allow ease of manufacturing in the country. As per reports, only China and Brazil rank better than India.

Mint’s Emerging Markets Tracker has taken into account seven high-frequency indicators across 10 large emerging markets to help us make sense of India’s relative position in the league table.

The seven indicators in the tracker encompass both real activity indicators, such as the manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) and real GDP growth and financial metrics, such as exchange rate movements and changes in stock market capitalization. The final rankings are based on a composite score that gives equal weightage to each indicator.