Due to contraction in power generation, mining output and poor performance of manufacturing sector, country's industrial production growth slowed to 0.6 per cent in February has raised expectations of a rate cut by the Reserve Bank next month to boost growth.
Factory output, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), had grown by 4.3 per cent in February last year.
For the April-February period of 2012-13 fiscal, the industrial production growth is at 0.9 per cent, down from 3.5 per cent in the same period of 2011-12, according to official data released.
Meanwhile, the growth (rpt growth) in industrial output for January has remained almost at the same level of provisional estimates of 2.4 per cent for the month. The manufacturing sector, which constitutes over 75 per cent of the index, grew by meagre 2.2 per cent in February, as against 4.1 per cent in the same month of 2012.
The growth in the output of the key sector remained low at one per cent in April-February this fiscal, as against 3.7 per cent growth in the same period of 2011-12.
There was a contraction of 3.2 per cent in power output in February this year compared to a growth of 8 per cent in the same month of 2012.
During the April-February period, electricity generation has gone up by 4 per cent, compared to a growth of 8.7 per cent in the same period of the 2011-12 fiscal.
The mining output in February this year too contracted by 8.1 per cent, compared to a growth in production by 2.3 per cent in the same month of 2012.
For the April-February period, the production in the sector showed a decline of 2.5 per cent, against contraction of 2.1 per cent in the year-ago period.
Overall, 13 of the 22 industry groups in manufacturing sector have shown positive growth during February. Capital goods output grew by 9.5 per cent in February, asagainst a growth of 10.5 per cent in same month of 2012.
Capital goods output contracted in the April-February period by 7.6 per cent, as against a dip of 1.8 per cent in the same period of 2011-12.
The consumer goods output saw meagre growth of 0.5 per cent in February, compared to a decline in production by 0.4 per cent in same month last year.
In the April-February period of the last fiscal, the growth in the segment was 2.5 per cent as compared to 4.7 per cent in the same period of 2011-12.
The dip in the output of consumer durables stood at 2.7 per cent in February, as compared to a contraction of 6.2 per cent in the same month of 2012.
The growth in the output of these goods remained flat at 2.7 per cent in April-February period of last fiscal.
The consumer non-durables output grew by 2.9 per cent in February, compared to 4.4 per cent in the same month last year. This segment's growth was at 2.3 per cent in the 11-month period of last fiscal, as against 6.4 per cent in the previous fiscal.