DNA Money Edit: After long lull comes industrial revival

Industrial activities in India have picked up pace in the last leg of the current financial year. According to data shared by Ministry of Commerce, eight core industries of India's economy -- coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertiliser, steel, cement and electricity -- grew 6.8% in November 2017, showing a persistent upward trend.

This has been the highest monthly growth registered, over the corresponding month of the previous fiscal, in the current financial year. The 6.8% growth shadows the 5% growth posted in October 2017. Interestingly, the growth was driven by a 16.6% increase in steel production and 17.3% hike in cement production in November.

What makes the news exciting is the fact that the eight core industries comprise 40.27% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). Surely, this heralds an overall industrial revival. The IIP growth is likely to rebound to 6% in November.

Economists believe that the favourable base effect related to the temporary slowdown in activity after demonetisation is likely to boost volume growth in a variety of sectors during the last few months of the current fiscal. A revival in IIP is definitely good news for the economy as the index growth had plunged to 2.2% in October 2017, slowing for a third straight month.