February IIP at nine-month high of 5%, beats estimates

It was 2.6% in January; growth mainly driven by capital goods and consumer goods sectors

India’s industrial output grew 5% for the month of February, its strongest rise in three quarters, on back of strong growth in capital goods and consumer goods sector, data released by the Central Statistics Office showed on Friday.

Analysts polled by news agency Reuters were expecting the output to grow 2.4% compared with a upwardly revised 2.8% growth in January.

The cumulative growth for the period April-February 2014-15 over the corresponding period of the previous year stands at 2.8%.
 

Mining, Manufacturing and Electricity sectors for the month of February grew 2.5%, 5.2% and 5.9% compared to the same period last year.

Capital goods rose 8.8% over the same period last year, while consumer non-durables rose 10.7%, indicating increasing discretionary spending among the middle classes.