The manufacturing of capital items picked up tempo in January. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters
India’s industrial output growth slowed to 3.8% in January, from an upgraded uptick of 4.24% in December, with the manufacturing sector’s growth slowing to 3.2% from 4.5% a month in the past and shopper non-durables slipping into contraction for the second time in three months.
Mining and electrical energy era accelerated to 5.9% and 5.6%, respectively. Consumer durables manufacturing jumped 10.9%, the very best growth in three months, however gained from base results as their output had contracted 8.2% in January 2023. Consumer non-durables output shrank 0.3%.
Capital items manufacturing picked up tempo to develop 4.1% in January, and intermediate items additionally grew quicker at 4.8% in contrast to 3.9% in December 2023. However, the growth charges for major items and infrastructure/development items eased to 2.9% and 4.6%, respectively in January.
Eight of the 23 manufacturing segments tracked by the National Statistical Office to compute the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) recorded a contraction in January, with computer systems, electronics and optic merchandise seeing the steepest fall of 11.9%, whereas prescribed drugs’ output remained flat in contrast to final January.
Between April 2023 and January 2024, electronics and computer systems have now contracted 14%, second solely to the 17.5% drop in carrying attire manufacturing over the identical interval. In January, carrying attire manufacturing fell 1.6%.
On the opposite hand, different transport gear grew 25.3%, fabricated steel merchandise rose 21.4%, adopted by motor autos and furnishings whose output rose 18% and 15.1%, respectively, in January.
Bank of Baroda chief economist Madan Sabnavis mentioned electronics’ efficiency stays a disappointment as additionally it is lined underneath the Production-Linked Incentive or PLI scheme. “Clearly, it has not yet provided momentum to production so far,” he mentioned.
ICRA chief economist Aditi Nayar reckoned that the IIP growth will stay in the vary of three%-4% in February as properly, primarily based on obtainable excessive frequency knowledge and the bottom results from the 6% rise recorded final 12 months.
