India's October factory output remains unchanged

The output of India's eight major industries stood at a standstill in October, official data showed on Thursday.

On a sequential basis, the "Index of Eight Core Industries" (ECI) for October grew by 4.7 per cent same as it did in September when the ECI growth was revised downwards to 4.7 per cent from an earlier reported rise of 5.2 per cent.

However, on a year-on-year (YoY) level, it showed a downtrend, as ECI which represents the output of major sectors like coal, steel, cement and electricity had risen by 7.1 per cent in the corresponding month of the previous year.

According to the data furnished by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, the cumulative growth of the combined ECI during April to October 2017-18 was 3.5 per cent from a rise of 5.6 per cent during the same period of the last fiscal.

The ECI index carries 40.27 per cent weightage of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) which is the macro-gauge for India's factory output.

On a sector-specific basis, refinery production, which has the highest weightage of 28.03 per cent, grew by 7.5 per cent in October 2017 as compared with the corresponding month of last year.

Electricity generation, which has the second highest weightage of 19.85, rose by 2.1 per cent.

Steel production, the third most important component with weightage of 17.92, increased by 8.4 per cent during the month under review, while coal mining, with a 10.33 weightage, rose by 3.9 per cent in October 2017.

However, extraction of crude oil, which has a 8.98 weightage, slipped by 0.4 per cent during the month under consideration.

On the other hand, the sub-index for natural gas output, with a weightage of 6.88, stood higher by 2.8 per cent.

Conversely, cement production, which has a weightage of 5.37, decreased by 2.7 per cent in October 2017.

Fertiliser manufacturing, which has the least weightage -- of only 2.63 -- rose by 3 per cent.

--IANS

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