New Delhi, June 2 -- After losing momentum in March due to the West Asia conflict, growth across India's private sector has expanded faster since the start of the new fiscal year. It maintained that expansion in May, with survey data indicating a quicker upturn for manufacturers and improvement in new orders and production during the month. The rate of growth across India's manufacturing industry came in even stronger than the flash estimates released by HSBC India 10 days ago, with purchasing prices rising at their second-fastest pace since April 2022 (behind April), while the rate of output charge inflation remained below the average over the past year. The HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) improved to 55.0 in May from 54.7 in April, and also remained above the flash figure reading of 54.3, underscoring an improvement in domestic momentum. A reading above 50 indicates expansion and below it contraction. According to the data released on Monday, goods producers reported their fastest growth in new orders and output since February. The survey noted that this momentum was driven by strong gains in the intermediate and capital goods segments, which offset a slowdown among consumer goods manufacturers. Pranjul Bhandari, chief India economist at HSBC, said, "India's final manufacturing PMI points to another month of possible precautionary stockpiling as the Middle East conflict remains unresolved. Output growth accelerated, while purchasing activity and stocks of finished goods rose at a faster pace. New order growth was driven by domestic demand, as export order growth moderated. Input cost inflation eased slightly on the month, and output price inflation slowed more sharply, suggesting a potential squeeze on manufacturers' margins." The data showed that the domestic market provided impetus to growth, as new export orders rose at a slower pace. The expansion in international sales was nevertheless solid, with survey panellists highlighting gains from Asia, Europe, Kenya, Nigeria and West Asia. Aside from this April, input price growth was the strongest it has been in 45 months, the survey said. Capital goods topped the sectoral ranking for input cost inflation, followed by intermediate goods and consumer goods....