BENGALURU, Feb 3 Reuters Robust growth in India39;s services industry eased last month after touching a sixmonth high in December, with softening orders spurring caution in companies39; business outlooks for the year, a private business survey showed on Friday.

The South Asian nation39;s economy is expected to grow 6.0 to 6.8 next fiscal year, the government said this week, slower than the 7.0 growth projected for the current year amid faltering global demand.

But Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her budget speech on Wednesday that despite challenges the Indian economy was heading towards a bright future.

The SP Global India services Purchasing Managers39; Index PMI fell to 57.2 in January from 58.5 in December, missing expectations in a Reuters poll for 58.1 but above the 50mark separating growth from contraction for an 18th straight month.

As seen earlier in the week from the manufacturing PMI results, growth across the service sector lost some momentum at the start of the year, noted Pollyanna De Lima, economics associate director at SP Global Market Intelligence.

Yet, the survey showed us that service providers received high amounts of new business which helped keep the overall rate of growth historically prominent. Demand resilience in turn meant that output also continued to expand at a generally strong pace.

She also noted that after reaccelerating in December, input cost inflation in the service sector retreated to a twoyear low in January,…