Steps taken by the government in the past few months will likely produce an upturn in sectors like cement, leather and textiles; but overall manufacturing output will likely remain subdued in the current quarter, according to a survey by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI).

Out of the 327 manufactures, which took part in the study, just around 39 per cent reported higher order books for January to March quarter of the current financial year. It means nearly 60 per cent of respondents saw no growth in order books for the current quarter. However, the figure is still higher than 33 per cent in third quarter of this financial year.

The export outlook for manufacturing will also likely remain bleak as just 40 per cent of manufacturers expect their export levels to be higher in the current quarter than the same quarter of last financial year.

Painting a bleak picture, the report said, "For the current quarter (Q4) 40% expect their export levels to be higher than last year for the same quarter. In the previous survey, we had 54% respondents expecting exports to be higher in Q3 vis-a-vis same quarter last year."

More than 75 per cent of respondents also revealed that had no plans to hire new workforce in the coming three months.

Nearly 30 per cent of the respondents said that they had more than their average levels of inventories, while another 50 per cent said that they maintained their average levels of inventories.

Sluggish demand and high input costs were found to be the biggest deterrents to economic growth.