New Delhi, March 4 -- Coming soon after relatively weak gross domestic product data, the purchasing managers' index (PMI) seems to validate a loss in factory-activity momentum.

The HSBC India manufacturing PMI dropped to 56.3 in February from 57.7 in January. Last month's reading is the lowest in 14 months. Local demand seems to have cooled, which led order books filling up with less vigour.

On the brighter side, overseas demand seems to be holding up. Besides, despite the PMI fall, it remains well in expansion territory. Still, it does raise questions of a slowdown in a sector being relied upon to generate jobs.

Data last week had shown India's GDP grew 6.2% in the last quarter of 2024, up from the previous quarter's 5.6% expansion, b...