New Delhi, Jul 1 (IANS): India's manufacturing activity picked up momentum in June on the back of rising consumer demand leading to the fastest rate of hiring in 19 years, according to HSBC's final India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), compiled by S&P Global, released on Monday.

“The Indian manufacturing sector ended the June quarter on a stronger footing. The headline manufacturing PMI rose by 0.8 percentage points to 58.3 in June, supported by increased new orders and output," said Maitreyi Das, global economist, HSBC.

The performance of the consumer goods industry was especially strong, although substantial increases were also noted in the intermediate and investment goods categories, the report stated.

Export growth is also likely to be better compared with the previous year as the 400 firms surveyed for the index recorded another month of strong growth of new export orders, with Asia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Europe and the US being the driving economies.

Input inflation remains above the long-run average. However, manufacturers were able to pass on higher costs to customers, as demand remained robust, resulting in improved margins,” said Das.

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has projected that India’s goods and services exports are likely to increase by 3 per cent to surpass $800 billion in 2024-25.

Reserve Bank of India recently revised India’s growth forecast upward to 7.2 per cent from 7 per cent earlier.