Datanomics: Falling prices give a boost to manufacturing's real growth

Manufacturing prices fell in Q1 even as real growth outpaced nominal growth, pointing to deflationary pressure unlike agriculture and services

Nominal growth in various segments of the economy is generally higher than real growth. However, that was not the case for manufacturing in the first quarter of the current financial year. Manufacturing grew 7.7 per cent at current prices, compared with 9.2 per cent at constant prices (2022-23). In the fourth quarter of 2025-26, growth stood at 9.9 per cent and 7.9 per cent, respectively. The divergence was due to a fall in deflators: 1.4 per cent in Q1FY26, compared with growth of 1.8 per cent in Q4FY26. It was not the case for the agriculture & allied and services sectors, or for overall gross value added (GVA). This implies that agriculture and services witnessed inflationary pressure in Q1FY26, while manufacturing saw a decline in prices. In FY26, only the farm sector witnessed a fall in prices in three quarters and marginal inflation in one.