Industrial output declines 1.2% in February

The Dollar Business Bureau

Industrial production dropped to a four-month low, declining 1.2% in the month of February, majorly due to the contraction in the manufacturing sector and lower offtake of consumer as well as capital goods.

The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) had recorded 1.99% growth in the month of February last year.

For the period April-February 2016-17, IIP growth was almost flat at 0.4% compared to 2.6% in the same period a year ago.

For the month of January, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has revised the industrial output growth to 3.27% from 2.74% in the provisional data issued last month.

The previous low was witnessed in the month of October last year when the IIP declined by 1.87%. After that, the index surged to 5.59% in November. 

The contraction in the IIP in the month of February 2016 is majorly on account of 2% decline in the manufacturing sector that makes up over 75% of the index. The manufacturing sector had witnessed a little growth of 0.6%. 

The capital goods production has contracted by 3.4% in the said month against the contraction of 9.3% in the previous year. The overall consumer goods output has also declined by 5.6% against the growth of 0.6% in the same month last year. 

The non-durable consumer goods production has contracted by 8.6% in February over a decline of 4.9% last year. In the consumer durable sector, the production dropped by 0.9% in the month compared to a growth of 10.4% last year. 

In total, 15 out of 22 segments in the manufacturing sector have recorded negative growth in the month.