Industrial output growth at 5-month low at 2.1 %

The factory output, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), had contracted by 0.5 per cent in March 2014.

Industrial production grew at a five-month low of 2.1 per cent in March even as both manufacturing activity and capital goods’ off take improved during the month.

The factory output, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), had contracted by 0.5 per cent in March 2014.

For 2014-15 fiscal, industrial production grew at 2.8 per cent against contraction of 0.1 per cent in 2013-14, the data released by the Central Statistics Office showed.

Meanwhile, the IIP for February has been revised downwards to 4.86 per cent per cent from the provisional estimate of 5 per cent released last month.

The IIP had grown at 2.77 per cent in January, 3.56 per cent in December and 5.2 per cent in November. The factory output contracted by 2.7 per cent in October.

Manufacturing output, which constitutes over 75 per cent of the index, grew by 2.2 per cent in March against a contraction of 1.3 per cent in the same month a year ago.

Production of capital goods, a barometer of demand, grew by 7.6 per cent in March as against a contraction of 11.5 per cent in same month of last year.

Mining sector grew by 0.9 per cent in March 2015 against 0.5 per cent expansion in the same month last year.

Overall, 13 out of 22 industry groups in the manufacturing sector showed positive growth during the month of March.

For the whole 2014-15, the manufacturing sector expanded by 2.3 per cent, against a contraction of 0.8 per cent in 2013-14. Capital goods output grew by 6.2 per cent in last fiscal as against a dip of 3.6 per cent in 2013-14.

Mining output rose by 1.4 per cent last fiscal against a contraction of 0.6 per cent in 2013-14.