Worried over the dismal Index of Industrial Production (IIP) numbers, India Inc stepped up its demand for at least least 0.50 per cent cut in interest rate by the Reserve Bank in its policy review on Monday.
As per the IIP data, the industrial growth during the four-month period ending July 2012, contracted by 0.1 per cent, as against the growth of 6.1 per cent in the same period last fiscal. During July itself, the growth rate slowed down to 0.1 per cent from 3.7 per cent a year ago.
The performance of the economy continues to be disappointing, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said, adding, "The central government is intensively engaged with industry on the constraints that affect industrial production and will continue its efforts to find practical solutions to the problems".
The sector-wise performance reveals a mixed picture, he said. "There are gains in some areas but there are slippages in some other areas. There is no clear pattern yet," he added.
On sequential basis, the IIP data showed that July's growth at 0.1 per cent was an improvement over (-) 1.8 per cent recorded in June.
The worst performer has been the manufacturing sector, which constitutes over 75 per cent of the index, showing a decline of 0.2 per cent in July, and 0.6 per cent in the April-July period. MORE
