India's Industrial Production Falls To Five-Month Low Of 1.1 Per Cent In March

Industrial growth, as per the IIP, for February has been revised up to 5.8 per cent from 5.6 per cent. At 1.1 per cent, the March IIP growth figure is well below the consensus estimate of 3.2 per cent

India's industrial output grew by 1.1 per cent in March, the slowest pace in five months, according to a data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on Friday revealed. Industrial growth, as per the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), for February has been revised up to 5.8 per cent from 5.6 per cent. At 1.1 per cent, the March IIP growth figure is well below the consensus estimate of 3.2 per cent.

"For the month of March 2023, the Quick Estimates of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) with base 2011-12 stands at 150.5. The Indices of Industrial Production (IIP) for the Mining, Manufacturing and Electricity sectors for the month of March 2023 stand at 154.2, 146.0 and 188.0 respectively," the Centre's announcement said.

The sharp fall in industrial growth in March was due to the manufacturing and electricity segments stagnating.

In March, output of the manufacturing sector, which accounts for more than three-fourth of the IIP, rose by a mere 0.5 per cent on a YoY basis as against a 5.6 per cent increase in February. To make matters worse, electricity production was down 1.6 percent compared to an 8.2 per cent rise in February.

"As per Use-based classification, the indices stand at 158.2 for Primary Goods, 120.9 for Capital Goods, 158.2 for Intermediate Goods and 178.7 for Infrastructure/ Construction Goods for the month of March 2023. Further, the indices for Consumer durables and Consumer non-durables stand at 118.1 and 145.6 respectively for the month of March 2023," it added.

The indices of industrial production for the mining, manufacturing, and electricity sectors for the month of March 2023 stand at 154.2, 146.0, and 188.0, respectively. These Quick Estimates will undergo revision in subsequent releases as per the revision policy of IIP.

Meanwhile, on Friday, India's retail inflation dropped to 4.7 per cent in April from 5.66 per cent in March, an 18-month low due to favourable base, data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation said.

The food inflation also eased to 3.84 per cent in April. It was 4.79 per cent in March.  It was for the second month in a row that Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation remained within the RBI's comfort zone of below 6 per cent.