India's industrial output grew by 5.6 per cent in February, data released on Wednesday by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation showed. According to the data, the country’s industrial growth, as per the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), in January has been revised up to 5.5 per cent from 5.2 per cent.
Mining output rose 4.6 per cent and power generation surged 8.2 per cent during the month under review.
At 5.6 per cent, the February IIP growth print is largely in line with consensus expectations of 5.8 per cent. Factory output measured in terms of the IIP grew 1.2 per cent in February 2022.
For the first 11 months of 2022-23, IIP growth was 5.5 per cent as against 12.5 per cent in the corresponding period of 2021-22.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, India's retail inflation declined to 5.66 per cent in March, according to the NSO data. The country’s rural inflation in March stood at 5.51 per cent, while urban inflation was at 5.89 per cent. At 5.66 per cent, the latest CPI inflation print is the lowest in 15 months, having come in at 5.66 per cent in December 2021. The figure is also broadly in line with consensus estimates.
The slight increase in industrial growth in February was aided by an improvement in the performance of the manufacturing sector, whose output rose by 5.3 per cent as against 4 per cent in January. Given that the manufacturing sector makes up nearly 78 per cent of the IIP, this modest increase outweighed the impact of a fall in the growth rates seen in electricity and mining.
Going by the use-based classification of goods, the output of consumer non-durables was particularly noteworthy as it rose by 12.1 per cent in February as against an increase of 6.3 per cent in January.
According to the release, for the month of February 2023, the Quick Estimates of Index of IIP with base 2011-12 stands at 138.7. The Indices of Industrial Production for the Mining, Manufacturing and Electricity sectors for the month of February 2023 stand at 129.0, 136.8 and 174.0, respectively.