Industrial production growth hit a 9-month high of 5% in February

India's industrial production grew at 5.0 per cent in February, the fastest in nine months, on the back of increased production of both capital goods and consumer goods, quick estimates released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showed.

Cumulative growth of industrial production for the period April-February 2014-15 now stands at 2.8 per cent.

Production in the mining, manufacturing and electricity sectors recorded growth rates of 2.5 per cent, 5.2 per cent and 5.9 per cent year-on-year.

The three sectors showed cumulative growth rates of 1.5 per cent, 2.2 per cent and 9.1 per cent, respectively, during April-February 2014-15.

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

Among manufacturing industries, the industry group `wearing apparel, dressing and dyeing of fur' has shown the highest positive growth of 62.0 per cent, followed by 'electrical machinery and apparatus' (35.8 per cent) and `wood and products of wood and cork except furniture; articles of straw and plating materials' (19.6 per cent).

On the other hand, the industry group 'office, accounting and computing machinery' has shown the highest negative growth of (-) 44.6 per cent, followed by 'radio, TV and communication equipment and apparatus' (- 43.4 per cent) and 'other transport equipment' (- 8.2 per cent).

Basic goods production grew 5.0 per cent in February while capital goods production expanded at a faster pace of 8.8 per cent. Growth of production of intermediate goods has, however, been slower at 1.1 per cent during the month.

Production of consumer durables and consumer non-durables recorded growth rates of (-) 3.4 per cent and 10.7 per cent, respectively, with the overall growth in consumer goods being 5.2 per cent.

Some of the important items showing high positive growth during February 2015 include 'H R sheets' (216.3 per cent), 'leather garments' (151.8 per cent), 'polythene bags, including HDPE and LDPE bags' (131.6 per cent), 'rubber insulated cable' (63.5 per cent), 'vitamins' (60.5 per cent), 'stainless/alloy steel' (57.0 per cent), 'apparels' (52.5 per cent), 'aluminium conductor' (48.5 per cent), 'PVC pipes and tubes' (44.9 per cent), 'block board' (34.2 per cent), 'carbon steel' (27.4 per cent) and 'room air-conditioner' (27.4 per cent).

Some of the other important items showing high negative growth included 'heat exchangers' (- 54.7 per cent), 'electric sheets' (- 53.9 per cent), 'telephone instruments, including mobile phones and accessories' (- 51.7 per cent), 'computers' (- 51.5 per cent), 'furnace oil' (- 37.5 per cent), 'ship building and repairs' (- 34.8 per cent), 'tractors' (- 29.8 per cent), 'boilers' (- 28.8 per cent), 'generator/ alternator' (- 28.7 per cent) and 'CR sheets' (- 21.7 per cent).

The CSO is planning to shift the base year for calculation of industrial production growth from the current 2004-05 to 2-11-12 and switch over to a new methodology for calculating the index over the next few months.