Industrial production growth slows to 4-mth low of 0.5%

Decline in manufacturing output and lower offtake of consumer durables pulled down industrial production growth to 4-month low of 0.5 per cent in July, dashing hopes of recovery.
The factory output, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), had grown by 2.6 per cent in July, 2013.
IIP for June has been revised upwards to 3.9 per cent from the provisional estimates of 3.4 per cent released last month, according to data released by the Central Statistics Office.
During the April-July period of the 2014-15 fiscal, IIP has recorded 3.3 per cent growth, as against contraction of 0.1 per cent in the same period of 2013-14.

According to the IIP data, manufacturing - which constitutes over 75 per cent of the index, contracted 1 per cent in July, compared to 3 per cent growth in output a year ago. For April-July, the sector has grown at 2.3 per cent, compared to 0.1 per cent contraction in the year-ago period.
The consumer goods output contracted by 7.4 per cent in July compared, to 0.7 per cent contraction logged a year ago. For April-July, the segment shows a contraction of 4.5 per cent, compared to a decline of 1.8 per cent in the same period of 2013-14.

The consumer durables segment declined by 20.9 per cent in July, as against a dip of 9.6 per cent a year ago. For April-July, it declined 12.5 per cent as against a dip of 11.9 per cent in the four month period of last fiscal.

Consumer non-durable goods output grew at 2.9 per cent in July, compared to 7.4 per cent in same month last year. During April-July, the segment has grown at 1.3 per cent compared to 7.2 per cent in same period last fiscal.
Overall, 12 of the 22 industry groups in manufacturing showed positive growth in July.