Industrial output remains negative, dips 1.3 pc in December

Industrial production declined for the second month in a row, registering negative growth of 1.3 per cent in December, mainly due to drop in manufacturing and capital goods sector.

Factory output measured in terms of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) also declined by 3.4 per cent in November, according to data released by Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The index had registered a growth of 3.6 per cent in December 2014, it said.

During April-December period this fiscal, the industrial output grew by 3.1 per cent compared to 2.6 per cent a year ago.

The decline in December has been primarily on account of a massive drop in output of capital goods which showed a contraction of 19.7 per cent in December compared to growth of 6.1 per cent in the same month a year ago.

The manufacturing sector, which accounts for over 75 per cent of the index, declined by 2.4 per cent against a growth of 4.1 per cent in December 2014.

However, the mining sector showed an improvement, registering a growth of 2.9 per cent in the month as against a contraction of 1.7 per cent in same month a year ago.

Power generation showed deceleration, recording a growth of 3.2 per cent as against 4.8 per cent growth in same month a year ago.

As per the used based classification, basic goods reported a marginal increase of 0.5 per cent as against 5.9 per cent in December 2014.

The consumer goods output increased to 2.8 per cent as against 0.6 per cent in December last fiscal.

Consumer durables, however, showed robust growth of 16.5 per cent in December as against a contraction of 9.2 per cent during the same month last fiscal.

However, the consumer non-durable segment showed a contraction of 3.2 per cent in December as against a growth of 5.6 per cent in the corresponding month.

In terms of industries, ten out of the twenty two industry groups in the manufacturing sector showed negative growth during December 2015 as compared to corresponding month of the previous year.