New Delhi: The first quarter industrial output grew by 7.6 per cent as against a growth of 5.7 per cent registered during the same period last fiscal.

According to estimates of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) released yesterday by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation, industrial growth during June this year was estimated at 7.3 per cent (6.7 per cent). The manufacturing sector grew by 7.9 per cent during the first quarter as against 6 per cent registered during the same period last fiscal, according to the estimates. During June alone, the sector grew by 8 per cent (6.9 per cent).

The growth in the electricity sector slowed down to 4.2 per cent during June from 5.4 per cent during the same month last year, cumulatively, during April-June this fiscal, the sector registered a growth of 5.8 per cent as against 4.2 per cent during the same quarter last fiscal.

The mining and quarrying sector grew by 6.1 per cent during the first quarter as against 5.6 per cent during the same period last year. It, however, registered a lower growth rate of 3.3 per cent during June, compared with the growth of 5.7 per cent witnessed in the same month last year.

As per the "use-based" classification of the IIP, the growth rate during the first three months in the basic goods stood at 4.6 per cent (4.4 per cent). The segment grew by 2.9 per cent in June (5.5 per cent). The capital goods and the intermediate goods registered double-digit growth of 14.9 per cent and 10.4 per cent, respectively during the first quarter as against 8.4 per cent and 2.8 per cent, respectively during the same period last fiscal. Capital goods sector grew by 17.5 per cent (10.9 per cent), while the intermediate goods sector rose by 7.5 per cent (6.7 per cent).

The growth rates of consumer goods, consumer durables and consumer non-durables groups during the first quarter of this year stood at 5.9 per cent, 11 per cent and 4.3 per cent, respectively as against 9.4 per cent, 4 per cent and 11 per cent respectively. As many as 10 of the 17 two-digit industry groups have shown positive growth during June 2004, compared to the corresponding month last year.