New Delhi, April 4 -- From a sharp slowdown in manufacturing activity, to international airfares coming under pressure as jet fuel costs surge, India's nationwide rollout of E20 fuel, foreign portfolio investors posting their biggest equity pullout in over three decades, excise duty cuts stoking fiscal slippage risks, and basmati rice exporters feeling the heat of the Iran war-here's a round-up of this week's news in numbers.

The impact of the West Asia war is beginning to show in India's factory activity, with the manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) slipping to a 45-month low of 53.9 in March. This level was last seen in June 2022, when the sector was still recovering from the pandemic slowdown. While a reading above 50 indic...