Govt to form panel to examine IIP: Rangarajan

The panel will also look into ways to tighten various sources of data collection

The government would set up a committee to examine the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and look into ways to "tighten" various sources of data collection, Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council Chairman C Rangarajan said today.

"I think the government is now setting up a committee to examine the IIP," he told reporters here when asked about concerns in some quarters about volatility of IIP data and whether the government would address them.

The IIP growth has been revised downwards to 1.14% for January, from the provisional estimates of 6.8%, according to the official data released today.

Rangarajan pointed out that data relating to IIP comes from several sources, they are then put together by the ministry and released. "Therefore, we really need to tighten the various sources from which the data are collected."

 

The former RBI Governor said industrial production growth rate in February and the revised one for January certainly indicate that industrial productivity has not yet picked up.

"Therefore, overall growth rate of industrial production during the year [2011-12] will only be what we have been indicating earlier....3.8%...."

Showing persistent sluggishness in the economy, industrial production growth slowed to 4.1% in February this year, mainly due to poor performance of manufacturing sector and consumer goods segment.

Output of the manufacturing sector, which constitutes over 75% of the index, rose by just four% in February, compared to 7.5% in the same month last year.