India’s industrial output grows at 6.4% in August
India’s industrial output grew at 6.4% during August this year, riding high on a considerable growth in mining, manufacturing and electricity sectors. During August this year, indices of industrial production for these three sectors stood at 119.4, 185.3 and 194.4 respectively, cloaking corresponding growth rates of 3.8%, 6.9% and 5.6% over August last year. “The cumulative growth in the three sectors during April-August 2015-16 over the corresponding period of 2014-15 has been 1.2%, 4.6% and 3.2% respectively,” said Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation in a statement. Industrial production grew at 4.1% during April-August 2015-16 over the same period last year. FICCI Secretary General A Didar Singh attributed its growth to the country’s strong manufacturing sector and said: “The growth in manufacturing seems to be accelerating and we are hopeful of higher growth in the coming months. With the growth in manufacturing getting broad-based now and capital goods also posting a healthy growth for the first five months, government’s efforts to revive manufacturing have started yielding results.” Singh also urged the government to continue taking business-friendly measures in order to boost manufacturing growth and investments. He referred to the RBI’s latest decision to reduce interest rate and said, “Reduction in the interest rates last month by RBI is expected to encourage investment and aggregate demand in the economy.” Emphasizing on the need to boost investors' sentiment, industry body ASSOCHAM (Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry) suggested the government to take more effective short term revival measures to maintain the growth momentum. “There also seems to be some turnaround in the consumer goods sectors, however, the slightly sluggish performance of the electricity and basic goods sector are the causes of concern,” said Rana Kapoor, President of ASSOCHAM. As per the government data, 15 out of the 22 industry groups in the manufacturing sector have recorded a positive growth, with furniture sector cloaking the highest growth rate (90.8%), followed by electrical machinery & apparatus (40.8%) and wearing apparel (19.5%), during August this year. Tobacco products witnessed the maximum decline at 9.5%, followed by publishing, printing & reproduction of recorded media at 9.1% and radio, TV and communication equipment & apparatus at 9.0%. Some important items that recorded a positive growth during August 2015 over the corresponding month in 2014 include gems and jewellery (192.3%), sugar machinery (140.8%), H R sheets (129.5%) and fruit pulp (93.4%). Items which recorded the highest decline include ready to eat products (42.9%), grinding wheels (37.8%), CR sheets (28.2%) and stainless/alloy steel (27.0%).
October 13, 2015 | 3:37pm IST.
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