New Delhi: Industrial production grew at an early three-year high of 6.4 per cent in August on account of improvement in manufacturing as well as mining activity and better off take of capital goods.
The factory output had grown by 0.5 per cent in August last year. Industrial output, measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), was at 4.1 per cent in the April-August period against 3 per cent in the year-ago period, the data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Monday showed. The index grew at 8.4 per cent in October 2012. After that, it has touched the highest level of 6.4 per cent in August. The IIP growth for July has been revised slightly downwards to 4.1 per cent from provisional estimate of 4.2 per cent last month.
The manufacturing sector, which constitutes over 75 per cent of the index, grew by 6.9 per cent in August 2015 against a contraction of 1.1 per cent in the same month last year. During April-August period, manufacturing sector grew at 4.6 per cent as compared to 2 per cent growth in same period a year ago. Additionally, the mining sector growth was at 3.8 per cent in August against 1.2 per cent in the same month last fiscal. During April-August period, the sector grew at 1.2 per cent.
The output of capital goods, a barometer of investment, grew at an impressive rate of 21.8 per cent as against a contraction of 10 per cent in the same month last year. During April-August, the capital goods output grew by 7.4 per cent as compared to 4.8 per cent in the year-ago period. However, power generation growth slowed to 5.6 per cent in August as compared to 12.9 per cent in the same month, a year ago.
During April-August period, it grew by by 3.2 per cent as compared to 11.7 per cent in same period a year ago. In terms of industries, 15 out of 22 groups in the manufacturing sector showed positive growth in August. According to the data, overall consumer goods output grew by 6.8 per cent in August as compared to a contraction of 6.2 per cent in the same month a year ago. During April-August, the consumer goods output grew by 3 per cent compared to a decline in production by 4.3 per cent.
The consumer durables goods output grew at 17 per cent in August as compared to a contraction of 15 per cent in the same month a year ago. In April-August, the segment grew by 7.7 per cent compared to a contraction of 12.8 per cent in corresponding period. The consumer non-durable goods output grew by 0.4 per cent in August as compared to 0.4 per cent growth in the same month, a year ago. During April-August, the output of these goods grew by 0.1 per cent as compared to 1.9 per cent growth a year ago.
The basic goods output grew by 3.4 per cent in August, compared to 9 per cent growth a year ago, whereas intermediate goods output grew by 2.6 per cent in the month under review as compared to a contraction of 0.1 per cent in the same period last year.
