Dec IIP dips to 11.1%

NEW DELHI: The growth in index of industrial production (IIP) saw a sharp fall to 11.1% in December 2006 over the same month previous year. IIP peaked at 14.4% in November 2006 which was the fastest growth in over a decade. The IIP growth in April-December 2006 clocked a 10.8% growth compared to 8% in the corresponding period of 2005.

The IIP figures released by the government on Friday show the growth in the manufacturing sector in December 2006 was much lower than the robust 15.7% growth in the previous month. In December 2006, the manufacturing sector grew 11.9% against 6.4% last year. While the mining sector grew 3.8% in December 2006 (–0.1% in December 2005), electricity grew 9.3% in December 2006 (3.4% in December 2005).

The sectoral growth rates of capital and intermediate goods in December 2006 over December 2005 have also been relatively lower than the previous month. The growth in capital goods and intermediate goods was 20.2% and 11.2% respectively (25.3% and 16.7% in November 2006). The basic goods sector grew 11.7% in December 2006.

The IIP growth in the manufacturing sector during the first nine months of the fiscal stood at 11.8% compared to 9% in the corresponding period of 2005-06. In April-December 2006, while the industrial growth recorded in the mining stood at 3.9% (0.5% in April-December 2005) the growth recorded in electricity was 7.5% (4.8%).

In the manufacturing sector, the basic metals and alloy industry has shown the highest growth of 21.4%. This is followed by 13.8% in non-metallic mineral products. In December 2006, wood and wood products recorded the highest growth of 29.3%.