The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for January 2016 stood at 186.3, down 1.5% compared to the same month in the previous year. In December 2015, the IIP fell to a record low of 1.3% y-o-y and 3.2% in November 2015. However, industrial output indicates that the manufacturing growth story is still weak in India.
The cumulative growth for the period April-January, 2016 over the corresponding period of the previous year stands at 2.7%. Except for the manufacturing sector, all the other sectors, such as mining and electricity, reported a fall in the IIP figure.
Capital goods production had grown at a tepid pace of 1.7% during April-January while consumer non-durables contracted 1% in the same period.
Out of 22 industry groups, 10 categories reported negative growth. The highest negative growth was reported by “electrical machinery & apparatus” (-) 50.3%. It was followed by (- )11.5% in “publishing, printing and recorded media”.
Some important items showing high negative growth during the current month over the same month in the previous year include “cable, rubber insulated” (-) 87.8%, aluminium Foil (-) 65.0.