Indian services activity shrank in August at its quickest pace since the depths of the global financial crisis as new business dried up, a survey showed, the latest evidence that Asia's third-largest economy is rapidly losing steam even as policymakers battle a full-blown currency crisis.

Taken together with a survey of Indian factories published on Monday that showed activity shrank for the first time since early 2009, the data will stoke worries that growth in the July-September quarter could be even weaker than in April-June.

The HSBC Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) compiled by Markit, slipped to 47.6 in August, the weakest since April 2009, from 47.9 in July.

Private sector activity contracted further in August, reflecting faster contractions of both manufacturing and services output. According to HSBC, the contraction was largely on the back of decline in new orders for the private sector, which fell at the fastest pace in almost four and a half years.