Slowdown continues to haunt economy

New Delhi: India's industrial production growth slowed to 4.3 per cent in July, dragged mainly by manufacturing sector's poor show, according to government data released on Thursday.

Factory output, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), had expanded 6.5 per cent in July 2018. The industrial output growth was recorded at 1.2 per cent in June and 4.6 per cent in May this year.

According to data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, industrial output grew at 3.3 per cent in April-July period this fiscal, down from 5.4 per cent growth in the same period a year ago.

The IIP data showed a significant slowdown in the manufacturing sector, which grew at 4.2 per cent in July 2019 as compared to 7 per cent a year ago.

Capital goods segment, which is a barometer of investment, saw a contraction of 7.1 per cent in July compared to 2.3 per cent rise a year ago.

Mining growth was 4.9 per cent in July as compared to 3.4 per cent in the same month last fiscal. The expansion in the power generation sector stood at 4.8 per cent in July, compared to 6.6 per cent a year earlier.

As per use-based classification, the growth rates in July 2019 over July 2018 are 3.5 per cent in primary goods, 13.9 per cent in intermediate goods and 2.1 per cent in infrastructure/ construction goods.

Consumer durables and consumer non-durables have recorded growth of (-) 2.7 per cent and 8.3 per cent, respectively.

In terms of industries, 13 out of 23 industry groups in the manufacturing sector have shown positive growth during July as compared to the same month a year ago.

The industry group 'manufacture of food products' has shown the highest positive growth of 23.4 per cent followed by 17.3 per cent in 'manufacture of basic metals' and 15 per cent in 'manufacture of wearing apparel'.

On the other hand, the industry group 'manufacture of paper and paper products' has shown the highest negative growth of (-) 15.4 per cent followed by (-) 13.3 per cent in 'manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers' and (-) 10.9 per cent in 'printing and reproduction of recorded media', it added.