Our Bureau
New Delhi, Aug. 12 Amid a continuing lacklustre performance by the core sector, industrial output registered a modest 5.4 per cent growth in June 2008 compared with a much higher 8.9 per cent rise in production recorded a year ago.
The growth in June, however, was higher than the upward-revised 4.1 per cent growth estimated in May this year, with both manufacturing output and electricity generation picking up on a sequential basis despite a downward trend year-on-year. The continuing recovery by the consumer durables sector during the latest reported month was accompanied by a sequential jump in output in case of the crucial capital goods sector.
Meanwhile, the key infrastructure industries, which contribute slightly over one-fourth of the Index of Industrial Production, grew 3.4 per cent in June against a 5.2 per cent rise in output a year ago, according to latest estimates released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday.
The IIP figures announced by the Central Statistical Organisation showed a partial recovery on a sequential basis in manufacturing output, which accounts for nearly four-fifth of the total weight of the Index.
Manufacturing output rose 5.9 per cent in June compared with a 4.2 per cent in May, even though the estimates were way below the 9.7 per cent growth recorded a year ago.
The electricity sector also showed a rebound, growing 2.6 per cent during June against the 1.2 per cent in the previous month.
The estimates were lower than the 6.8 per cent growth recorded in electricity generation recorded a year ago. The mining sector grew 2.9 per cent in June, sharply lower than the growth estimate of 5.1 per cent in May but higher than the 1.5 per cent recorded in June 2007.
For the April-June quarter, industrial production growth slowed to 5.2 per cent, down from 7.1 per cent in the same period a year earlier.
Use-based classification of the IIP shows that the consumer durables sector gathered momentum in June, registering a growth of 3.5 per cent against a negative 3.6 per cent estimated last year and May’s 2.6 per cent growth, pushing up the overall consumer sector growth to 10 per cent.
The capital goods registered a 5.6 per cent growth in output in June 2008, higher than the 3.4 per cent witnessed in May.
