Record fall in March as IIP crashes to 16.7%, FY20 growth squeezed by 0.7%

Experts warn much worse is yet to come with April seeing 20 days of lockdown versus March's one-week

India witnessed its biggest drop in industrial production yet, in March, with output crashing by 16.7 per cent as factories downed shutters towards the month-end owing to the Covid-19-induced nationwide lockdown. Economists, however, said the worst was yet to come after the weeks of suspension of industrial activity across sectors — many of which still remain hamstrung by a lack of labour, logistics, and raw materials.
 

Industrial output for fiscal 2019-20 contracted by 0.7 per cent compared with a growth rate of 3.8 per cent in 2018-19, official data released on Tuesday said. Industrial production had been tapering off since