Industry shows signs of recovery
02 Jul 2009
Indian industry seems to have weathered the most severe part of the global economic shock and is now moving towards a recovery, according to the Economic Survey.
Some of the positive signs are the recent upturn in the generation of electricity, the improvement of cement dispatches and rise in the offtake of bank credit, the Survey noted.
In fact, industrial output in the country grew 2.4 per cent in fiscal 2008-09, the Survey noted.
Though the growth of the industrial sector started to slow down in the first half of 2007-08, the overall growth during the year remained as high as 8.5 per cent, it said.
The industrial sector witnessed a sharp slowdown during 2008-09 as consequences of successive shocks, the most important being the knock-on effects of the global financial crisis. The pace of slowdown accelerated in the second half of 2008-09 and the year closed with the industrial growth at only 2.4 per cent as per the index of industrial production.
The slowdown was most reflected in the manufacturing sector and was less replicated by the mining and power sectors. While manufacturing growth turned negative in the fourth quarter of 2009-09, mining sector growth declined over successive quarters of 2008-09 to reach a zero rate in the fourth quarter.
