Industrial production grows to 4.1 per cent in April

The industry group ‘Machinery and equipment’ has shown the highest positive growth of 20.6 per cent.

Industrial production grew at a two-month high of 4.1 per cent in April, primarily driven by the manufacturing sector, but capital goods growth slowed.

The factory output, measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), was 3.7 per cent in April 2014.

The industrial growth for March too has been revised upwards to 2.5 per cent from 2.1 per cent, as per the data released by the government on Friday.

Manufacturing output, which constitutes over 75 per cent of the index, grew at higher rate of 5.1 per cent in April as against 3 per cent in the same month last year.

The production of capital goods, a barometer of demand, however, grew at a slower pace of 11.1 per cent in April as against 13.4 per cent in the same month last year.

In April this year, mining sector too grew at a slower rate. The growth was 0.6 per cent as against 1.7 per cent in April last year.

Electricity production contracted by 0.5 per cent, while it had expanded by 11.9 per cent in the same month last year.

In terms of industries, 16 out of the 22 industry groups in the manufacturing sector have shown positive growth during April compared with the corresponding month previous year.

The industry group ‘Machinery and equipment’ has shown the highest positive growth of 20.6 per cent, followed by 16.2 per cent in ‘wood and products of wood and cork except furniture’, the data said.

On the other hand, the industry group ‘office, accounting and computing machinery’ has shown the highest negative growth of 36.5 per cent, followed by 34 per cent in ‘radio, TV and communication equipment and apparatus’ and 26.7 per cent in ‘tobacco products’.