New Delhi: India’s economic woes continued unabated as the country’s industrial output fell by -1.1 per cent month-on-month (MoM) in August while exports contracted 1.7 per cent for April-June period, according to the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data released by the government.
Manufacturing output, which accounts for more than three-fourths of the entire index, fell to -1.2 per cent in August, in contrast to a 4.2 percent rise in July. Mining grew 0.1 percent in August against a growth of 4.9 per cent in July. 3. In terms of industries, 15 out of the 23 industry groups in the manufacturing sector have shown negative growth during the month of August 2019 as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year (Statement II), the data shows.
For the April-June period, the eight infrastructure sectors averaged 3.6 per cent growth.
It may be recalled that India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the March quarter slowed to a five-year low of 5.8 per cent, down from 6.6 percent in the December quarter. Annual GDP growth slowed to 6.8 per cent for the year that ended on March 31 from 7.2 percent in the previous year.
Earlier this year, the International Monetary Fund cut India’s gross domestic product growth forecast for 2019-20 by 20 basis points to 7.3 percent, following similar action by the Asian Development Bank and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
This was its first such contraction in 21 months, showing declining momentum of both investment and consumption. Even core industries productions of steel, electricity, coal and cement are falling or have been stagnant in recent quarters.
According to the latest data, the industry group ‘Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers’ has shown the highest negative growth of (-) 23.1 per cent followed by (-) 21.7 per cent in ‘Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c.’ and (-) 18.0 percent in ‘Other manufacturing’.On the other hand, the industry group ‘Manufacture of basic metals’ has shown the highest positive growth of 11.8 per cent followed by 11.3 percent in ‘Manufacture of wood and products of wood and cork, except furniture; manufacture of articles of straw and plaiting materials’ and 10.3 percent in ‘Manufacture of wearing apparel’.
Release of the Index for September 2019 will be on Monday, 11 November 2019.
