March industrial output shrinks 0.5 %

The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for the whole of 2013-14 contracted 0.1 per cent against a modest positive growth of 1.1 per cent in the previous year.

Contracting for the fifth time in six months, factory output growth came in at (-) 0.5 per cent in March, according to official data released here. Industrial production had shrunk 1.7 per cent in February.

The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for the whole of 2013-14 contracted 0.1 per cent against a modest positive growth of 1.1 per cent in the previous year.

Signalling the investment sentiment continues to remain dampened, capital goods output contracted by 12.5 per cent in March. Consumption demand too remained subdued as consumer goods production shrank 0.9 per cent.

Manufacturing and mining production shrank 1.2 per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively; electricity generation grew modestly 5.4 per cent.

Of the 22 industry groups in the manufacturing sector, 12 contracted during March compared with the corresponding month of the previous year.

The industry group ‘Radio, TV and communication equipment and apparatus’ has shown the worst negative growth of (-) 33.1 per cent, followed by (-) 26.1 per cent in ‘Office, accounting and computing machinery’ and (-) 21.5 per cent in ‘Medical, precision and optical instruments, watches and clocks’.

The industry group ‘Wearing apparel; dressing and dyeing of fur’ recorded the highest positive growth of 26 per cent, followed by 9.2 per cent in ‘Basic metals’ and 6.2 per cent in ‘Food products and beverages’.