Expanding manufacturing sector accelerates India's industrial output

A rapid expansion in the manufacturing sector accelerated India's factory output growth to 4.2 percent in July from a rise of 3.8 percent in the month before, official data showed on Friday.

The industrial output in the corresponding month of 2014 had inched up by 0.9 percent.

According to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), which released the data on the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), the rise in industrial growth for July was attributed to a jump in manufacturing sector's output.

In July, the manufacturing sector, which has the maximum weightage in the IIP, grew by 4.7 percent from a rise of 4.6 percent in June and a decline of 0.3 percent in the corresponding month of 2014.

The mining sector output rose by 1.3 percent from a marginal increase of 0.1 percent in the like period of last year. In June, the mining sector's output had declined by 0.3 percent.

The electricity sector's yields accelerated to 3.5 percent last month from 1.3 percent growth in June. However, it was considerably lower than the surge of 11.7 percent in July, 2014.

Cumulatively, the overall industrial output was however slower with a rise of only 3.5 percent in the April-July period from an increase of 3.6 percent in the corresponding months of 2014-15.

The manufacturing sector swelled by 4.00 percent, while the electricity sector expanded by 2.6 percent. Conversely, the mining sector's cumulatively output in the period under review inched up by 0.6 percent.

Furthermore, Friday's data showed that among the six use-based classifications of the index, the output of consumer durables segment expanded by just 11.4 percent in July.

Healthy production was also observed in the capital goods' output which grew by 10.6 percent. The capital goods segment is a key indicator of economic activity.

The basic goods segment rose by 5.2 percent, while intermediate goods grew by 1.5 percent and consumer goods was higher by 1.3 percent.

On the other hand, consumer non-durables segment receded by 4.6 percent.

Overall, 12 out of the 22 industry groups in the manufacturing sector have shown positive growth during the month under review.

Segment-wise, growth was witnessed in plastic molasses (280.5 percent), gems and jewellery (156.1 percent), aluminium conductor (52.8 percent), rice (37.9 percent), cigarettes (37.8 percent), carbon steel (25.5 percent), leather garments (21.8 percent), apparels' (21.7 percent) and rubber insulated cable (20.9 percent).

Segment-wise, high negative growth was reported in the ready-to-eat (-49 percent), air conditioning (-44.7 percent), grinding wheels (-40.3 percent), colour TVs (-35.4 percent), antibiotics (-26.8 percent), furnace oil (-25.8 percent), boilers (-24.7 percent) and aerated waters and soft drinks (-21.2 percent) sectors.