New Delhi: The country's services sector fell to 57.8 in March from 12-year high of 59.4 in February on easing cost pressures amid new businesses and output lost, according to a survey on April 4.

The headline figure in the survey by credit rating agency S&P Global has been in the expansion zone for the 20th consecutive month since August 2021. A print above 50 in the survey denotes expansion of services activity and below that suggests contraction.

The survey said output expanded in March due to favourable demand and new business gains. New business inflows increased at a softer but still sharp rate, as demand, competitive pricing and marketing efforts helped sales.

The Economics Associate Director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, Pollyanna De Lima, said India's service sector built on to the momentum gained in February with further increases in new business intakes and output at the end of the 2022-23 fiscal quarter.

Despite an increase in input prices at Indian services firms a large proportion of survey participants signaled no change in expenses since February.

De Lima added that input price pressures in the service economy continued to subside, alongside the trend seen in manufacturing. Still, a sizable proportion of services firms hiked their selling prices to hedge against rising costs, emboldened by favourable demand conditions.

Despite rising for the tenth month straight, services employment grew only marginally in March. About 98 per cent of survey participants left payroll numbers unchanged amid sufficient staff levels for current requirements.

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