Industrial growth at 10.3% year after credit crisis

New Delhi: A year since this century's worst financial crisis choked industrial activity, India's factory production expanded by 10.3 per cent in October fuelling hopes that it would power the economy ahead.

The growth -- stupendous compared to the 0.1 per cent in the year-ago period -- however, failed to enthuse the stock market which went into a tailspin before recovering ground.

The data comes days after the pleasantly stunning economic growth numbers. GDP grew 7.9 per cent in Q2 this fiscal, showing the country was well on the road to recovery provided farm growth does not dip much in the coming quarters.

For the first seven months of this fiscal, the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), which measures industrial growth, expanded by 7.1 per cent against 4.3 per cent a year ago.

Economists say strong industrial growth is due to base effect (low figures of last year) as well as genuine recovery.

"This is partly base-effect but the economy seems to be sort of moving up... we will have a 7 per cent growth this fiscal. Though, that is subject to the drought conditions," former chief of PM's economic panel chief Suresh Tendulkar.