India's industrial output eased to a three-month low in April amid weak manufacturing.
The Index of Industrial Production grew by 5% in April, as compared with a revised estimate of 5.4% in March, according to data published by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on Wednesday.
IIP growth at 5% was lower than expectations, with some bump up expected in production due to the spending during elections and the IPL, Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at Bank of Baroda, said. While manufacturing saw low growth, the heatwave added to demand for power, he said.
Going forward, a meaningful improvement in the overall consumption scenario remains crucial for the industrial activity, Rajani Sinha, chief economist at CareEdge, said. While prospects of good monsoon remain supportive of rural demand, the temporal as well as spatial distribution of monsoon is critical, she said.
Sectoral Estimates (YoY)
Mining output rose by 6.7% in April, as compared with 1.3% in March.
Manufacturing output grew by 3.9% as against 5.7% in the last month.
Electricity generation rose by 10.2%, as compared with 8.6% in the previous month.
Industrial output, as classified by the end use of goods, showed:
Primary goods output rose by 7%, as compared with 3% in March.
Capital goods output increased 3.1%, as against 6.6% in the previous month.
Intermediate goods output grew by 3.2%, as compared with 5.5% last month.
Infrastructure and construction goods output gained 8% versus 7.4% a month ago.
Consumer durables output rose by 9.8%, after growing by 9.5% in the previous month.
Consumer non-durable output contracted by 2.4% versus 5.3% last month.
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