Manufacturing, capital & consumer goods push IIP growth to 7.5%

Industrial production grew at a high rate of 7.5% in January 2018 against 3.5% in the year-ago month on the back of good show by manufacturing coupled with higher offtake of consumer and capital goods.

The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) had grown at 7.1% in December 2017, according to the data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) today.

The IIP growth in January this year was mainly on account of uptick in manufacturing sector which constitutes 77.63% of the index. It grew by 8.7% during the month as compared to 2.5% in January 2017, showing signs of recovery in the economy.

Capital goods, a barometer of investments, showed a sharp increase in output by 14.6% in January, 2018 as against a decline of 0.6% year ago.

Consumer non-durable goods, which are mainly fast moving consumer goods, too showed an increase of 10.5% as against a growth of 9.6%. Consumer durable goods recorded a growth rate of 8% in January 2018 against a contraction of 2% a year ago.

However, the mining sector saw a flat growth of 0.1% compared to 8.6% a year ago.

As per use-based classification, the growth rates in January 2018 over January 2017 are 5.8% in primary goods, 4.9% in intermediate goods and 6.8% in Infrastructure/ Construction Goods.

In terms of industries, 16 out of 23 industry groups in the manufacturing sector showed positive growth during January, 2018.

IIP grew at 4.1% in April-January this fiscal as compared to 5% in same period in previous financial year.