Industrial output grows at 4-mth high of 3.8% in June

Improvement in manufacturing activity helped industrial production expand at a 4-month high rate of 3.8 per cent in June Measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), industrial production had grown 4.3 per cent in June last year, as per the data released by Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Wednesday.

The IIP growth for May has been revised downwards to 2.5 per cent from the earlier estimate of 2.7 per cent. It had grown at a rate of 3.35 per cent in April, and 2.5 per cent in March. The factory output growth was recorded at 4.9 per cent in February.For the first quarter (April-June) of the current fiscal, the industrial production is at 3.2 per cent, as compared to 4.5 per cent growth in the year-ago period.

The manufacturing sector which constitutes over 75 per cent of the index, grew at 4.6 per cent in June compared to 2.9 per cent in the same month last year.

During April-June period, the sector grew by 3.6 per cent compared to 3.9 per cent in the year-ago quarter.However, the output of capital goods, a barometer of investment, contracted by 3.6 per cent compared to 23.3 per cent growth in the same month last year.

For the April-June period, the capital goods production is up at 1.5 per cent, compared to 13.7 per cent growth in the corresponding period a year ago.

In terms of industries, 16 out of 22 groups in the manufacturing sector have shown positive growth in June, as compared to the same month of last fiscal.

The mining sector output contracted by 0.3 per cent in June compared a growth of 4.8 per cent in the same month last fiscal.