Industrial production growth hits a low of 0.5% in July

Industrial production in the country hit a four-month low of 0.5 per cent in July pulled down by falling manufacturing output and lower offtake of consumer durables, dashing hopes of an early recovery.

Industrial production, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) had grown by 2.6 per cent in July 2013, official data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showed.

For June, CSO has revised the IIP, which has its base (2004-05=100), upwards to 3.9 per cent, from the provisional estimate of 3 per cent.

The cumulative growth of production during April-July 2014-15 over the corresponding period of the previous year stands at 3.3 per cent.

Electricity generation continued to grow at double digits year-on-year, although at a slower pace of 11.7 per cent against the scorching 15.7 per cent growth recorded in June.

Production in the mining sector grew at 2.1 per cent in July 2014 against the 4.3 per cent growth recorded in June while manufacturing growth turned negative at (-) 1.0 per cent against the 1.8 per cent growth reported in June.

In terms of industries, 12 out of the 22 industry groups in the manufacturing sector have shown positive growth during July 2014 compared to the corresponding month of the previous year.

The industry group `other transport equipment' showed the highest positive growth of 17.1 per cent in July 2014, which was followed by 'basic metals' (12.3 per cent) and 'other non-metallic mineral products' (11.8 per cent).

On the other hand, the industry group 'radio, TV and communication equipment and apparatus' showed the highest negative growth of (-) 58.3 per cent, followed by `office, accounting and computing machinery' (-) 26.0 per cent, and  'furniture and manufacturing (-) 17.4 per cent.

Basic goods production increased by 7.6 per cent year-on-year in July 2014 while capital goods production showed a negative growth of (-) 3.8 per cent and intermediate goods grew at 2.6 per cent.

Within consumer goods, consumer durables and consumer non-durables recorded growth rates of (-) 20.9 per cent and 2.9 per cent, respectively, while the overall growth in consumer goods stood at (-) 7.4 per cent.

Some of the important items showing high positive growth in July 2014 include stainless/ alloy steel (108.7 per cent), relays, fuses and switchgears (72.9 per cent), 'vitamins' (68.9 per cent), room air-conditioners (58.3 per cent), plastic machinery (45.9 per cent), ayurvedic medicaments (39.0 per cent), fruit pulp (37.8 per cent), scooter and mopeds (35.0 per cent), fasteners other than zip-fasteners (28.2 per cent), colour TV sets (27.3 per cent), three-wheelers, including passenger and goods carriers (22.2 per cent) and biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) film (21.3 per cent.

Some of the important items showing high negative growth included telephone instruments (- 67.2 per cent), sugar (- 60.3 per cent), aluminium conductor (- 46.1 per cent), computers (-36.9 per cent), generator/ alternator (-36.9 per cent), sacking (-36.0 per cent), gems and jewellery  (- 32.2 per cent), sugar machinery (-31.1 per cent), wooden furniture (-30.3 per cent) and cigarettes (- 23.8 per cent).

CSO has also revised IIP numbers for June 2014 (first revision) and those for April 2014 (final revision) in the light of the updated data.