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

Industrial production in the country expanded 6.4 per cent in August, hitting a three-year high, on the back of improvement in manufacturing as well as mining activity and better offtake of capital goods.

Factory output had grown by 0.5 per cent in August last year.

Industrial output, measured by the index of industrial production (IIP), stood higher at 4.1 per cent in the April-August 2015-16 period against 3 per cent in the year-ago period, data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) today showed

Production in the mining, manufacturing and electricity sectors grew at 3.8 per cent, 6.9 per cent and 5.6 per cent, respectively, in August as compared to the previous year period. Cumulative growth of production in the three sectors during April-August 2015-16 stood at 1.2 per cent, 4.6 per cent and 3.2 per cent, respectively.

Fifteen out of the 22 industry groups in the manufacturing sector have shown positive growth during August 2015 compared to the corresponding month of the previous year.

The industry group 'furniture and manufacturing' has shown the highest positive growth of 90.8 per cent, followed by 'electrical machinery and apparatus'  (40.8 per cent) and 'wearing apparel, dressing and dyeing of fur' (19.5 per cent). On the other hand, the industry group 'tobacco products' has shown the highest negative growth of (-) 9.5 per cent, followed by 'publishing, printing and reproduction of recorded media' (-9.1 per cent) and 'radio, TV and communication equipment and apparatus' (- 9.0 per cent).

Basic goods production increased by 3.4 per cent while capital goods production expanded by 21.8 per cent intermediate goods output rose 2.6 per cent in August.

Production of consumer durables and consumer non-durables recorded growth rates of 17.0 per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively, with the overall growth in consumer goods being 6.8 per cent.