New Delhi, Jan 12 (IANS) India’s industrial output rose by a better than expected 5.9 percent in November, against the 5.1 percent contraction in the previous month, on the back of a significant rebound in the manufacturing sector, official data showed Thursday.
The factory output, measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), registered a cumulative growth of 3.8 percent in the April-November period.
There was a significant rebound in manufacturing activities in November. The manufacturing sector, which constitutes over three-fourths of the IIP index, registered a 6.6 percent growth in November after a 6 percent contraction in the previous month.
Electricity output grew by 14.6 percent in the month under review as compared to 5.6 percent growth in the previous month, according to data released by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation.
However, the contraction continued in the mining sector. It contracted by 4.4 percent in November as compared to the 7.2 percent contraction in the previous month.
“The rebound in the Index of Industrial Production in November after the previous month’s decline demonstrates that industrial growth is not on a downward spiral, providing relief to industry,” said Chandrajit Banerjee, director general of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
Banerjee said the recovery has been driven mainly by the consumer goods sector with both durables and non-durables showing strong growth.
“The performance of critical sectors in the capital goods and intermediate goods groups has been poor. Without a recovery in these sectors, the investment momentum will remain subdued, without which a sustained recovery will not be possible,” he said.
When taking into consideration the “use-based” classification of factory output, the major area of concern remained on capital goods front. Capital goods contracted by 4.6 percent in November.
Other sectors registered positive growth. Basic goods registered a growth of 6.3 percent, intermediate goods 0.2 percent, consumer durables 11.2 percent and consumer non-durables 14.8 percent.