New Delhi, May 4 -- After losing some momentum in March due to the West Asia conflict, growth across India's private sector expanded at a quicker rate at the start of the new fiscal year in April, with survey data indicating a quicker upturn for manufacturers and improvement in both new orders and production.

However, the rates of increase were the second weakest since 2022, the private survey noted, as companies continued to indicate that the war in West Asia exerted upward pressure on inflation with input costs and output charges rising at the quickest rates in 44 and six months, respectively.

The HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) improved to 54.7 in April from 53.9 in March, underscoring an improvement in dome...