Growth in the manufacturing sector has picked up during the first nine months of 2003-04, according to the latest ASCON survey, carried out by the Associations Council of the Confederation of Indian Industry.

The survey covers the 134 manufacturing associations affiliated to the Associations Council along with other member companies of CII.

The survey shows more sectors have seen excellent (over 20 per cent) or high (10-20 per cent) growth during April-December 2003 compared with April-December 2002.

The number of sectors reporting excellent growth has gone up from 13 to 17 during the period, while the count of high growth sectors has improved from 31 to 41.

This has resulted in a fall in the number of sectors reporting a moderate growth of less than ten per cent (from 71 to 57) or a decline (19 to16) during the period.

As per the survey, the fastest growing sector during the nine-month period is automobiles (37.4 per cent).

While medium and heavy commercial vehicles have grown 35.3 per cent, fluid power component production is up 23 per cent. Other fast-growing sectors include colour picture tubes (20 per cent), machine tools (20 per cent), sponge iron (17.3 per cent) and pharmaceuticals (16 per cent). Black and white TVs have seen a 20 per cent drop in production.

As regards exports, 29 of the 60 sectors covered have reported excellent growth of over 20 per cent, against 14 of the 57 sectors covered in the ASCON survey for April-December 2002.

In the survey, there are 24 sectors in the high growth category (10-20 per cent), against 20 in the 2002 survey.

In the low growth category (below 10 per cent), there are two sectors this year, compared with ten last year.

Only five sectors have showed a fall in exports. Last year, there were thirteen sectors that had shown a similar fall in exports.

"The ASCON survey has thrown up some qualitative factors that can prevent a still higher growth in output. The most important is to have company-specific initiatives to improve productivity. Rising costs of inputs, thanks to higher import duties or higher raw material prices, have also affected profitability.

In addition, there were specific issues, like an inverted customs duty structure on some products and low investment in major infrastructure projects, which was also affecting Indian industry, a CII release said.