Poor mining output drags IIP growth to 3-month low of 4.3pc in Aug

Industrial production growth slipped to a three-month low of 4.3 per cent in August mainly due to a sharp decline in the mining sector output and poor offtake of capital goods, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO) data.

The industrial production measured in terms of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) was 4.8 per cent in August last year, the CSO data released Friday showed.

The mining sector production contracted by 0.4 per cent in August compared to a growth of 9.3 per cent in the year-ago month. Similarly the capital goods output growth decelerated to 5 per cent during the month from a 7.3 per cent expansion year ago.

The IIP growth is the lowest since May when industrial production grew at 3.9 per cent. Industrial production expanded by 6.8 per cent in June and 6.5 per cent in July.

The manufacturing sector output grew at 4.6 per cent in August compared to 3.8 per cent a year ago. Power generation grew at the rate of 7.6 per cent in the month as against 8.3 per cent in the year-ago month.

In terms of industries, 16 out of 23 industry groups in the manufacturing sector have shown positive growth during August 2018 as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year.

As per use-based classification, the growth rates in August 2018 over August 2017 are 2.6 per cent in primary goods, 2.4 per cent in intermediate goods and 7.8 percent in Infrastructure/ Construction Goods.

The consumer durables and consumer non-durables have recorded growth rates of 5.2 per cent and 6.3 per cent respectively.

According to data, the IIP growth in April-August was 5.2 per cent, up from 2.3 per cent in corresponding period in the previous fiscal.