Industrial Production Shrinks 1.1% In August

Signs of economic slowdown became more pronounced after country's industrial production or factory output, measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), registered its worst slump in more than six years in August. The IIP shrank by 1.1 per cent in August compared with an expansion of 4.3 per cent in July, according to data released by Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation. It was the worst performance since a 4.4 per cent contraction in November 2012. The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) had expanded by 4.8 per cent in August 2018.

Analysts polled by news agency Reuters had forecast industrial output for the month to have grown at 1.8 per cent.

The cumulative growth in April-August over the corresponding period of the previous year was 2.4 per cent.

"Fifteen out of 23 industry groups in the manufacturing sector have shown negative growth during the month of August 2019 as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year," the statistics ministry said in a press release.

The factory output growth declined in August on account of poor show by capital goods and consumer durable sectors, official data released on Friday showed.

The manufacturing sector, which contributes over 77 per cent to the IIP, showed a decline of 1.2 per cent in output during August 2019 as against a growth of 5.2 per cent in the same month of last year.

Electricity generation declined 0.9 per cent as against an expansion of 7.6 per cent in the year-ago period while growth in the mining sector was flat at 0.1 per cent.

(With agency inputs)