Industry charts 8.8% growth in February

The industry grew 8.8 per cent in February this year compared with 5.9 per cent last year. This is due to a surge in the manufacturing sector which grew 9.5 per cent in February compared with 7.4 per cent for the same month last year.

The electricity sector has registered a jump from negative growth of 0.8 per cent in February last year to 9 per cent for the same period this year. The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for April-January this fiscal shows growth of 8 per cent, compared with 8.2 per cent during the same period last fiscal.

"The consistent growth in the manufacturing sector shows that the slight dip in the months of November and December was a temporary phase," said DK Joshi, senior economist, CRISIL.

During the first 11 months of the fiscal year, the manufacturing sector showed growth of 9 per cent. This is marginally higher than 8.9 per cent during the same period last fiscal.

The investment scenario also remained positive with the capital goods segment growing by 16.5 per cent during April-January 2005-06, compared with 12.7 per cent during the same period a year ago.

"The investment climate remains healthy with both the capital goods segment and machinery and investment growing at a healthy rate," said Joshi.