RBI starts 75th factory survey on orders, stocks and capacity use
RBI has launched the July to September 2026 round of its quarterly survey asking manufacturers about orders, inventories and how much of their capacity they use.
Official title: RBI launches Quarterly Order Books, Inventories and Capacity Utilisation Survey: July – September 2026 (Round 75) · Press Release 2026-2027/1303
What happened
RBI has launched round 75 of its Order Books, Inventories and Capacity Utilisation Survey (OBICUS), covering July to September 2026. It has run every quarter since 2008. Manufacturing companies report new orders, pending orders, stocks of raw materials and finished goods, and how much they produce against their installed capacity.
RBI uses the answers to estimate how much of their capacity factories are using, an input for its interest rate decisions. When factories run near full capacity, they are more likely to invest and prices may face pressure. In the last round, for April to June 2026, capacity use was 74.6%. RBI will approach selected companies, but any manufacturer can take part by downloading the form. Company data are kept confidential.
What it means for you
No direct effect. The results help RBI judge whether the economy is running hot, which feeds into interest rate decisions.
What it means for businesses
If you run a manufacturing company, you can download the questionnaire from RBI's Forms page and take part even if RBI has not contacted you. Your company data will not be disclosed.
Links in this release, explained
- OBICUS round 75 questionnaire (PDF)
The survey questionnaire for round 75, which manufacturers fill in with their orders, inventories and production data.
rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/Forms/PDFs/OBICUS75R09102026.PDF - Past OBICUS results
RBI's page listing the published results of past rounds of this survey.
www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/QuarterlyPublications.aspx?head=Quarterly%20Order%20Books - RBI website
RBI's website homepage, from where the survey form can be found.
www.rbi.org.in/ - RBI Forms page
RBI's Forms page, which lists downloadable forms, including survey questionnaires.
www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_ViewForms.aspx - RBI survey forms
The Survey section of RBI's Forms page, where companies can download this and other survey questionnaires.
www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_ViewForms.aspx?FCId=40
Read the original
Press release on rbi.org.in ↗ Official PDF ↗
This explainer simplifies the official text. If anything here differs from the RBI's release, the release is right.