AMN / NEW DELHI
India’s industrial production hit a three-month low of 2.2 % two point two per cent in October this year. Factory output, measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production, had increased 4.2 percent in October last year, and 4.14 percent in September this year.
Data released by the Central Statistics Office today showed that growth in the manufacturing sector, which accounts for almost 78 per cent of the index, slowed to 2.5 per cent in October, mining output rose 0.2 per cent, and consumer durable goods output contracted 6.9 per cent.
But consumer non-durables output increased 7.7 per cent, and capital goods output rose 6.8 per cent in October.
Factory output measured by the index of industrial production (IIP) is the closest approximation for measuring economic activity in the country’s business landscape.
Manufacturing sector, which accounts for more than three-fourths of the entire index, grew 2.5 percent in October, compared with 3.4 percent growth in September, and 4.8 percent growth in October 2016, government data showed.
Capital goods output, which is a proxy to measure private sector investment activity, rose 6.8 percent in October compared with 7.4 percent in September.
Consumer durables output fell 6.9 percent in September, against a fall of 4.8 percent in the month before. In the same month last year, growth was 0.2 percent.
Mining production grew 0.2 percent in October from 1.0 percent in the same month last year.
Electricity production increased 3.2 percent in October as compared with 3.4 percent in September. Consumer non-durables grew 7.7 percent, from a fall of 3.0 percent a year ago.