India's factory output rises sharply by 9.8 percent in October

Surpassing expectations, India's factory output rose sharply by 9.8 percent in October, due mainly to a robust 10.6-percent growth in the manufacturing industry, official data showed on Friday.

The growth had decelerated to 3.84 percent in the month before and was placed at (-)2.7 percent in October of last fiscal year.

While the electricity output grew by 9 percent, that in mining was higher by 4.7 percent, according to the official numbers on the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) which were released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO), which released the data on the IIP, revised its September and July estimates upwards.

The revised figures for September showed a growth of 3.84 percent from a rise of 3.6 which was published in the "Quick Estimates of IIP" released on November 12, 2015.

In addition, the CSO came out with its final figures for July IIP which reveals a growth of 4.33 percent from a revised estimate of a 4.1 percent rise which was released with the data for August IIP.

Cumulatively, the factory output growth was 4.8 percent between April and October, as against 4 percent in the first six months of this fiscal. This was more than double the figure of 2.2 percent logged during the first seven months of the previous fiscal.

On a cumulative-basis, the manufacturing sector swelled by 5.1 percent, while the electricity sector expanded by 5.2 percent. The mining sector's cumulative output in the period under review edged up by 2 percent.

Furthermore, Friday's data showed that among the six use-based classifications of the index, the output of capital goods segment expanded by 16.1 percent in October. The capital goods segment is a key indicator of economic activity.

Besides, healthy production was observed in the consumer durables' output, which rocketed by 42.2 percent. The output of consumer goods was higher by 18.4 percent.

The basic goods segment rose by 4.1 percent, while intermediate goods grew by 6.7 percent and consumer non-durables segment edged up by 4.7 percent.

Overall, 17 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 gems and jewellery (372.5 percent), sugar machinery (103.4 percent), telephone instruments (61.5 percent), PVC pipes and tubes (48.5 percent), steel structures (35.5 percent), colour TV sets (34.5 percent), rubber insulated cable (31.3 percent), scooter and mopeds (24.5 percent) and passenger cars (21.4 percent).

Segment-wise, high negative growth was reported in the polythene bags (- 61.8 percent), ship building and repairs (- 46.5 percent), grinding wheels (- 36.3 percent), ready-to-eat (- 29.5 percent), furnace oil (- 25.8 percent) and aviation turbine fuel (- 24 percent).