Cement, telecom lead the growth story

The top five growth industries in the manufacturing sector during the October-December quarter of the current financial year are cement, steel, pharma, gems and jewellery and engineering, according to a study done by Cygnus Business Consulting and Research, a Hyderabad-based knowledge products and services organisation.

Cygnus, which analyses the performance of 25 industries and major companies in various sectors every quarter, stated that chemicals, FMCG, power, automobile and auto components seemed to be laggards during the last quarter.

The growth in the services sector, the study pointed out, was led by telecom, followed by retail, media, information technology services and construction.

Compared with the corresponding quarter in the previous year, as per the study, the sales and profit after tax of Indian industry as a whole grew 27 per cent and 75 per cent respectively.

"This growth momentum will continue into the last quarter of the year, though a few of the interest rate sensitive sector may be affected in a small way because of higher interest outgo," Cygnus director, ORS Rao, said while releasing the company's analysis of quarterly performance of indian industries.

Cygnus projects that the pecking order for growth in manufacturing in 2006-07 will continue to be led by cement, followed by engineering, gems and jewellery, pharma and steel.