India's 2016-17 factory output rises as manufacturing expands

India's factory output expanded by five per cent during 2016-17 as manufacturing and mining activities rose, official data showed on Friday.

According to data furnished by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, the base year of the current Index of Industrial Production (IIP) has been revised from 2004-05 to 2011-12.

The factory output, as per the IIP's new base year, had increased by 3.4 per cent during 2015-16.

As per the IIP data released by the ministry's Central Statistics Office (CSO), the factory output rose mainly on account of a 4.9 per cent increase in manufacturing output.

Among the other two major sub-indices, electricity generation increased by 5.8 per cent while that for mining output was up by 5.3 per cent.

On a sequential basis, factory output for March rose to 2.7 per cent from 1.9 per cent during the month before.

The March IIP data showed that electricity generation went up by 6.2 per cent, while that for mining rose by 9.7 per cent.

However, manufacturing output grew slower at 1.2 per cent from 1.4 per cent reported for February 2017.

--IANS

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