New Delhi: The country’s industrial growth rate, based on the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), rose to two percent in January, its highest level in six months. According to the data released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) on Thursday, the IIP has improved mainly due to increase in mining and power generation.
The growth rate of IIP was 1.6 percent in January 2019. After achieving 4.9 percent growth in July, 2019, industrial sector activities have remained quite slow. Industrial production declined by 1.4 percent in August last year. It declined by 4.6 percent in September and 6.6 percent in October. However, IIP grew by 1.8 percent in November and the growth rate of IIP in December 2019 was 0.1 percent.
Earlier preliminary data released last month showed a 0.3 percent decline in industrial production for December 2019. According to the data, manufacturing output in January increased by 1.5 percent. The growth rate of this sector was 1.3 percent in the same month a year ago. Similarly, electricity generation grew by 3.1 percent in the month under review, while in January, 2019, the power sector production grew by 0.9 percent. The mining sector grew by 4.4 percent in January 2020. Production of the region increased by 3.8 percent in the same month a year earlier. During the first ten months (April 2019 to January 2020) of the current financial year, the growth rate of industrial production has come down to 0.5 percent. This increased industrial production by 4.4 percent in the same period of the previous financial year. According to the data, capital goods production declined by 4.3 percent in January.
Production of the region dropped 3.6 percent in the same month a year earlier. The capital goods sector is considered an indicator of investment. According to usage-based classification, production of primary goods increased by 1.8 percent in January 2020 as compared to the same month last year. Production of intermediate goods increased by 15.8 percent while production of infrastructure and construction goods declined by 2.2 percent.
During this period, the output of durable consumer goods sector declined by four percent and that of non-durable consumer goods sector by 0.3 percent. In January, 11 out of the 23 industry groups in the manufacturing sector registered positive growth. The industry group manufacturing tobacco products recorded the highest growth of 22.8 percent. Basic metals manufacturing grew at 14.1 percent and furniture manufacturing at 9 percent.
