Industrial production grows 13.6% in June

New Delhi: Industrial production surged by 13.6 per cent in June mainly due to a low-base effect and good performance by manufacturing, mining and power sectors, but the output remained below the pre-pandemic level.

The manufacturing sector, which constitutes 77.63 per cent of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), grew by 13 per cent in June this year, according to the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Thursday.

The mining sector output rose by 23.1 per cent in June while power generation increased by 8.3 per cent. In June 2021, the IIP stood at 122.6 points compared to 107.9 point in the same month last year. The index was at 129.3 points in June 2019 as per the NSO data.

The data showed that industrial production recovered but was still below the pre-pandemic level of June 2019. The IIP had contracted by 16.6 per cent in June 2020.

Industrial production had plunged 18.7 per cent in March last year following the COVID-19 outbreak and remained in the negative zone till August 2020.

With the resumption of economic activities, factory output rose 1 per cent in September. The IIP had grown by 4.5 per cent in October. In November 2020, the factory output fell 1.6 per cent and then entered the positive territory by growing 2.2 per cent in December 2020. The IIP had recorded a contraction of 0.6 per cent in January and 3.2 per cent in February this year. In March, it grew by 24.2 per cent. For the month of April, the NSO held back the release of complete IIP data. In May this year, it grew 28.6 per cent.

The second wave of the pandemic started in the middle of April this year and many states imposed restrictions to curb the spread of coronavirus infections.

"The growth rates over corresponding period of previous year are to be interpreted considering the unusual circumstances on account of COVID-19 pandemic since March 2020," NSO said in a statement. The government had imposed a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus infections on March 25, 2020.

With the gradual relaxation of restrictions, there has been a relative improvement in economic activities as well as in data reporting, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation had said in a statement in November.