The industrial sector recorded a healthy 6.4 per cent growth in July 2002, up from 2.6 per cent in the corresponding month last year. This is the highest month-on-month growth in the industrial sector since April 2001.
The manufacturing sector, which has a weight of around 80 per cent in the index, grew 5.7 per cent, as against 2.9 per cent in July 2001. Electricity reported a 6.2 per cent growth as against 4.7 per cent in July 2001, while the mining sector grew 12.5 per cent, compared to a 2.6 per cent fall in production in the corresponding month last year.
The average growth of the industrial sector in April-July stands at 4.7 per cent, nearly double the growth recorded in the corresponding period in 2001.
Although there is some cause to cheer, the growth is not all encompassing. Saumitra Chaudhuri, economic adviser and research co-ordinator at ICRA, said,