Industrial output dips by 1.8%

Indicating a persistent slowdown in the economy, industrial production has declined by 1.8 per cent in June mainly due to poor show by manufacturing and capital goods sectors.

Industrial output in the April-June quarter too contracted by 0.1 per cent this fiscal, according to the official data released on Thursday.

Growth in factory output, as measured by the index of industrial production, was 9.5 per cent in June, and 6.9 per cent in April-June quarter in 2011-12.

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The manufacturing sector, which constitutes over 75 per cent of the index, witnessed a slump in output by dismal 3.2 per cent in June against a growth of 11.1 per cent in the same month a year ago.

The performance of the manufacturing sector was not good in April-June quarter also as the output declined by 0.7 per cent against a growth of 7.7 per cent in the three-month period a year ago.

The capital goods production also declined by massive 27.9 per cent in June against a growth rate of 38.7 per cent a year ago.

The output of these goods contracted in April-June period by 19.6 per cent against a growth of 17 per cent in 2011-12.

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Meanwhile, the industrial growth rate for May, 2012 has been revised upwards to 2.53 per cent, from the provisional estimates of 2.4 per cent reported earlier.

Mining output in June grew by just 0.6 per cent against a contraction of 1.4 per cent in the same month a year ago.

The sector's production in April-June quarter declined by 1.1 per cent compared to a growth of 0.6 per cent in 2011-12.

Consumer goods production grew by 3.5 per cent in June as compared to 3.1 per cent growth in the same month last year.

During the first quarter of this fiscal, the growth in the segment was 4 per cent compared to 4.4 per cent in the three month period a year ago.

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Consumer durables production showed a faster growth rate of 9.1 per cent in June, compared to 1.6 per cent in the same month last year.

The output of these goods registered a growth of 8 per cent in April-June quarter this fiscal as against 2.7 per cent in the same period in 2011-12.

The consumer non-durables segment output declined by 0.1 per cent in June, as against a growth of 4.3 per cent in the same month last year.

This segment grew by 0.7 per cent in first quarter this fiscal as against 5.9 per cent in 2011-12.

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The basic goods production growth slowed to 4.1 per cent in June as compared 7.8 per cent a year ago.
During the first quarter this segment recorded a growth of 3.5 per cent as compared to 7.5 per cent a year ago.

Power generation witnessed a growth of 8.8 per cent during June, compared to 8 per cent in the same month a year ago.
The electricity generation increased by 6.4 per cent in the first quarter of this fiscal as against 8.3 per cent in the same period in 2011-12.

In all, 14 of the 22 industry groups in the manufacturing sector showed growth in June.