India’s industrial output grew at a slower pace of 3.2% in December

Industrial production in India, based on the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) grew at a slower pace of 3.2 per cent year-on-year in December 2024, against a 5.2 per cent growth recorded in November, official data released on Wednesday showed.

This is the lowest growth rate recorded in the three consecutive months, according to data released by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation.

The manufacturing sector, which has a weight of 77.6% in the IIP, grew 3 per cent in December, while the mining and electricity sectors recorded growth rates of 2.6 per cent and 6.2 per cent, respectively, during the month. 

Within the manufacturing sector, 16 out of the 23 industry groups recorded year-on-year growth.

Primary goods sector grew 3.8 per cent in December 2024 while the capital goods sector expanded by 10.3 per cent, the intermediate goods sector by 5.9 per cent and infrastructure/construction goods sector by 6.3 per cent. 

Consumer durables production increased by 8.3 per cent in December 2024 while production of consumer non-durables decreased by 7.6 per cent.

IIP growth for November 2024 now stands revised downwards to 5 per cent from the provisional estimate of 5.2 per cent.

The IIP growth has been slack in earlier months, with growth rates at 3.7 per cent in October and 3.1 per cent in September.

During the first three quarters of the current financial year (April-December 2024-25), industrial production in the country grew at a slower pace of 4.1 per cent against a growth of 6.5 per cent in the same period last year.