Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Industrial Output Witnesses 7.6 Pc Growth In Dec

New Delhi: The official Index of Industrial Production (IIP) has witnessed a 7.6 per cent year-on-year growth during December, marking a second successive month of sub-par growth following the 5.1 per cent of November. However, there is an element of statistical illusion in the 7.6 per cent figure in the latest recorded month. For, it comes on a high base growth rate of 13.4 per cent during December 2006, just as the 5.1 per cent IIP increase for November 2007 was over and above the 15.8 per cent in November 2006.

Moreover, among the IIP''s main sectoral components, the manufacturing index has risen by a reasonably healthy 8.4 per cent year-on-year in December (though below the 14.5 per cent for the same month of the previous year). For the first nine months of the current fiscal, industry as a whole has grown by nine per cent (compared to 11.2 per cent in April-December 2006), with these standing at 9.6 per cent (12.2 per cent) for manufacturing, 4.9 per cent (4.4 per cent) for mining and 6.6 per cent (7.5 per cent) for electricity. The IIP data, moreover shows a 16.6 per cent rise in production of capital goods in December and 20.2 per cent during April-December 2007. This comes on the corresponding previous year''s growth rates of 26.2 per cent and 18.6 per cent.

The high growth in this sub-sector is indicative of buoyant investment activity. This, in turn, seems to be replacing the earlier consumption- and export-driven growth phase. Proof of this is in consumer durables, which has recorded growth rates of 2.2 per cent in December 2007 (1.8 per cent in December 2006) and 1.3 per cent in April-December 2007 (11.2 per cent in April-December 2006).

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