Manufacturing activity eased to 58.1 in July from 58.3 a month back, results of a private survey released on August 1 showed.

The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index remained higher than the long-term average for yet another month, as the economy kept humming at the start of the second quarter.

Infrastructure output data released on July 31 showed growth easing to a 20-month low of 4 percent in June owing to a slowdown in government spending and a high base from the previous year.

However, experts indicate a pickup in capex utilisation in the coming months.

Another set of data released simultaneously with infrastructure sector numbers showed that the capex utilisation was low in the first quarter at 16.8 percent of the full-year target compared with 23 percent in the previous year.

The high policy rates are likely to have a bearing on the economy in the second quarter, as economists expect the RBI to hold rates for the ninth consecutive time at its meeting next week.

Experts have been pencilling in a rate cut in October. Expectations of a rate cut are likely to rise, as the Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell hinted that a September rate cut was on the table.