Industrial production grows at a near 3-year high of 6.4% in August

New Delhi: Industrial production grew at a nearly three-year high of 6.4 percent in August on account of improvement in manufacturing as well as mining activity and better offtake of capital goods.

The factory output had grown by 0.5 percent in August last year.

Industrial output, measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), was at 4.1 percent in the April-August period against 3 percent in the year-ago period, the data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) today showed.

The index grew at 8.4 percent in October, 2012. After that, it has touched the highest level of 6.4 percent in August.

The IIP growth for July has been revised slightly downwards to 4.1 percent from provisional estimate of 4.2 percent last month.

The manufacturing sector, which constitutes over 75 percent of the index, grew by 6.9 percent in August, 2015 against a contraction of 1.1 percent in the same month last year.

During April-August period, manufacturing sector grew at 4.6 percent as compared to 2 percent growth in same period a year ago.

The mining sector growth was at 3.8 percent in August against 1.2 percent in the same month last fiscal. During April-August period, the sector grew at 1.2 percent.

The output of capital goods, a barometer of investment, grew at an impressive rate of 21.8 percent as against a contraction of 10 percent in the same month last year.

During April-August, the capital goods output grew by 7.4 percent as compared to 4.8 percent in the year-ago period.

However, power generation growth slowed to 5.6 percent in August as compared to 12.9 percent in the same month a year ago.

During April-August period, it grew by by 3.2 percent as compared to 11.7 percent in same period a year ago.

In terms of industries, 15 out of 22 groups in the manufacturing sector showed positive growth in August. 

According to the data, overall consumer goods output grew by 6.8 percent in August as compared to a contraction of 6.2 percent in the same month a year ago.

During April-August, the consumer goods output grew by 3 percent compared to a decline in production by 4.3 percent.

The consumer durables goods output grew at 17 percent in August as compared to a contraction of 15 percent in the same month a year ago.

In April-August, the segment grew by 7.7 percent compared to a contraction of 12.8 percent in corresponding period.

The consumer non-durable goods output grew by 0.4 percent in August as compared to 0.4 percent growth in the same month a year ago.

During April-August, the output of these goods grew by 0.1 percent as compared to 1.9 percent growth a year ago.

The basic goods output grew by 3.4 percent in August, compared to 9 percent growth a year ago, whereas intermediate goods output grew by 2.6 percent in the month under review as compared to a contraction of 0.1 percent in the same period last year.