Industrial production up 3.6% in Sept; inflation at 4-month high
India’s industrial production witnessed a 3.6% higher growth rate in September this year as compared to the corresponding month of last year, according to the latest government data. The General Index of industrial output for September stood at 178.0, while the average growth for April-September period amounted to 178.6 – a growth of 4% over the same period in 2014-15. “The indices of industrial production for the mining, manufacturing and electricity sectors for the month of September 2015 stand at 118.8, 186.7 and 195.7 respectively, with the corresponding growth rates of 3.0%, 2.6% and 11.4% as compared to September 2014,” said Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation in its release. The average year-on-year growth rate of these three sectors for the period April-September 2015-16 was 1.5%, 4.2% and 4.5% respectively. In the manufacturing sector, 11 out of 22 industry groups recorded a positive growth in September 2015 over September 2014. Among the industries groups, furniture manufacturing registered the highest growth at 69.9%, followed by electrical machinery & apparatus at 21.6% and chemicals and chemical product at 9.8%. Items such as gems and jewellery, single super phosphate, sugar machinery and H R sheets cloaked the maximum growth, with their output up by 155.6%, 86.5%, 84.3% and 46.1% respectively. Production of polythene bags, woollen carpets, instant food mixes and heat exchangers declined by 62.9%, 58.5%, 47% and 38.7% respectively. The industry groups which witnessed the maximum decline included publishing, printing & reproduction of recorded media at 13.3%, apparel, dressing and dyeing of fur at 12.8% and medical, precision & optical instruments, watches and clocks at 12.8%. “As per-use-based classification, the growth rates in September 2015 over September 2014 are 4.0% in basic goods, 10.5% in capital goods and 2.1% in intermediate goods,” said the ministry. The consumer durables sector recorded a growth of 8.4%, while growth of consumer non-durables declined by 4.6%. Meanwhile, retail inflation in October increased to a four-month high of 5% as against 4.41% in September 2015 and 4.62% in October 2014. The inflation was up mainly because of a price rise in pulses and other food articles. Prices of pulses and other commodities surged by 42.20% in October, while that of food and beverage category grew by 5.34%.
November 13, 2015 | 4:54pm IST
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