Industrial output growth slips to 4.3% in December

India’s industrial output growth slipped to 4.3% in December, from 7.3% recorded in the previous month, due to poor performance of the manufacturing sector, as per the government data released on Friday.

The cumulative growth in industrial output as measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) stands at 5.4% in April-December 2022 period, sharply down from 15.3% recorded in the corresponding period of the previous year.

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The IIP growth figure for December is disappointing as it has witnessed a sharp decline despite a low base. Industrial output growth in December 2021 stood at 1%.

As per the monthly data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), the manufacturing sector output grew at a sluggish rate of 2.6% in December as compared to 6.4% in the previous month. In December 2021 the manufacturing sector grew at 0.6%. The sector posted a cumulative growth of 4.8% in the first three quarters of the fiscal 2022-23.

Power generation increased at the fastest pace among the three sub-sectors of the IIP. Electricity output grew by 10.4% in December on a year-on-year basis. The cumulative growth in power generation in the April-December period of the current fiscal stands at 9.9%.

Mining output rose by 9.8% in December. Cumulative growth in mining production stands at 5.4% for the first nine months of the current fiscal on a year-on-year basis.

As per use-based classification, the capital goods segment grew by7.6% in December against a contraction of 3% recorded in the earlier corresponding month.