India’s industrial production slowed to 4.9 per cent in March this year, mainly due to poor show by the mining sector, according to official data released on Friday. In the previous month of February 2024, the IIP growth stood at 5.6 per cent.
The factory output, measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), had grown 1.9 per cent in March 2023.
According to the latest data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), the manufacturing sector’s output grew 5.2 per cent in March 2024 against 1.5 per cent in the year-ago month.
In March this year, mining production rose 1.2 per cent, and power output increased 8.6 per cent.
During the full financial year 2023-24, the IIP grew 5.8 per cent as compared with a 5.2 per cent expansion in the preceding fiscal.
In March 2024, the power generation increased by 8.6 per cent in March against a contraction of 1.6 per cent in the same month of the last year.
As per use-base classification, the capital goods segment growth fell to 6.1 per cent in March 2024 from 10 per cent in the year-ago period. In March this year, consumer durables output expanded 9.5 per cent. It had contracted by 8 per cent in March 2023.
Consumer non-durable goods production grew by 4.9 per cent during the month compared to a contraction of 1.9 per cent in March 2023. According to the data, infrastructure/construction goods reported a growth of 6.9 in March 2024 against a 7.2 per cent expansion in the year-ago period.
The data also showed that the output of primary goods logged 2.5 per cent growth in March this year, down from 3.3 per cent a year earlier. The expansion in the intermediate goods segment was 5.1 per cent in the month under review, higher than the 1.8 per cent recorded in the same period a year ago.
Aditi Nayar, chief economist and head (research and outreach) at ICRA, said, “The IIP growth posted an expected dip to 4.9 per cent in March 2024 (ICRA exp: 4.5 per cent) from 5.6 per cent in February 2024, as the leap-year effect faded. The IIP growth was led by a robust expansion in electricity, with demand boosted by rising temperatures, and dampened by a feeble rise in mining output. Encouragingly, manufacturing growth rose to a five-month high, albeit on a very low base.”
While the growth of consumer durables remained elevated at 9.5% in March 2024, outpacing the other categories, this performance was on a low base (-8% in March 2023), she added.
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