Poor performance by manufacturing and mining sectors pulled down India’s industrial growth rate to 7.8% in 2010-11, even as in March it put up a good show which reflected a turnaround.
Factory output, as measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production, showed a growth of 7.8% in the last fiscal against 10.5% in 2009-10.
In the last month of the fiscal, industrial growth, however, put up a good performance at 7.3%, up from 3.6% in February.
The growth in March was the best show since October 2010.
Growth in factory output had remained abysmally low at below 4% for four consecutive months from November. It stood at 2.7% in November, 2.5% in December, 3.95% in January and 3.6% in February.
The IIP growth has been very slow during these months, mainly due to a slowdown in manufacturing, which contributes to almost 80% of the index. The last time before March IIP registered an impressive growth was in October 2010 when it clocked 11.29%.
Overall, 13 out of 17 industry groups achieved positive growth in March this year.
As per the data released today, the manufacturing sector saw annual growth falling to 8.1% in 2010-11 from 11% in the previous fiscal. The sector has also shown poor performance in the month of March, with meager growth of 7.9% as compared 16.4% expansion in the same month last year.
The mining sector also saw a decline in growth to 5.9% in 2010-11 from 9.9% in the previous fiscal. For March, the sector's growth was a mere 0.2% as compared to 12.3% in the same month of 2009-10.
The capital goods segment was among the most affected as it grew by just 9.3% in 2010-11 as compared to a robust 20.9% in the previous fiscal. In March this year, the growth in capital goods production slowed to 12.9% from 36% in the same month of 2010.
During the last fiscal, growth of the electricity sector slowed to 5.6% against 6% in 2009-10. During March, the sector reported a growth rate of 7.2% as compared to 8.3% in the corresponding month of 2009-10.
Production in the consumer non durables segment went up by 2.2% in 2010-11 against 0.4% in 2009-10. In March, the segment grew by 5.5% as compared to 1.5% in the same month last year.
The consumer durables segment grew by 20.9% in 2010-11, down from 24.6% expansion in 2009-10. It witnessed a growth of 12.3% down from 32.6% in the same month of previous fiscal.
Overall, consumer goods output reported a rise of 7.5% last fiscal as against 6.2% in 2009-10. In March, the segment witnessed a growth rate of 7.7% against 9.3% in the corresponding month of 2010.
Intermediate goods reported a rise of 8.8% during 2010-11, down from 13.6% in the previous fiscal. The segment grew by 5% in the last month of last fiscal as against 13.4% in March 2010.
(Sourced from FE)
