Industrial production has picked up pace in the first month of the current fiscal, with the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) recording a 4.9 per cent growth, compared with a 4.1 per cent growth rate in April 2002.
According to the monthly estimate of IIP released today, the manufacturing sector, which makes up around 80 per cent of the total index, has posted a 5 per cent growth rate in April 2003, against 4 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
But the overall IIP growth rate is still lower than the average growth rate of 5.8 per cent recorded in last fiscal.
It is also lower than the 6 per cent growth rate in the index for March 2003. However, analysts said the momentum was usually dull in the initial phase of a fiscal and picked up steam later.
The analysis is buttressed by the performance of the capital goods sector in April 2003. According to the use-based classification, the sector, which indicates the level of investment demand by industry, has posted a robust growth of 9 per cent in April 2003, compared with a decline of 0.6 per cent in the corresponding month of last fiscal.
Among the other sectors, mining has also grown by 8.3 per cent in April 2003, which is a turnaround after growing at a meager 3.6 per cent during April 2002.
It had an over all growth rate of 5.7 per cent during the last fiscal.
However, production in the electricity sector fell to 1.9 per cent during the first month of the current fiscal from 5.2 per cent in the year-ago period.
As per use-based classification, production levels in the consumer goods sector has declined to 5.8 per cent in April 2003 from 8.9 per cent in the corresponding period in the last fiscal.
The consumer durables sector witnessed a negative growth of 2.2 per cent in April 2003, against a growth of 3.6 per cent in April, 2002.
The consumer non-durables sector also declined to 8.3 per cent in April, 2003 from 10.7 per cent during the same period a year ago, indicating a reduced consumer spending during the month.
Production in the basic goods sector fell to 3.9 per cent in the first month of the current fiscal from 4.7 per cent in April, 2002, while the intermediate goods sector posted a robust performance by clocking a 4.1 per cent growth in April 2003, against 0.1 per cent during the same month last year.
Sector-wise
