December industrial output contracts 1.3 per cent y/y: Government

NEW DELHI: India's Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for December contracted 1.3% year on year, recording its second straight month of fall, as manufacturing continued in the negative territory.

Cumulative industrial output for April-December 2015, however, is up 3.1%, according to data released by the statistics ministry on Friday. IIP had contracted 3.2% in November, its sharpest fall in four years.

Manufacturing output declined 2.4% in December. “In terms of industries, 10 out of 22 industry groups in the manufacturing sector have shown negative growth during the month of December 2015 as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year,” said an official release.

Mining and electricity output rose 2.9% and 3.2%, respectively, in December.

Consumer durables production recorded a 16.5% growth while consumer non-durables output fell 3.2% in December. The overall growth in consumer goods was 2.8%.

Output growth in the industry group ‘electrical machinery & apparatus’ declined the steepest at 44.9%, followed by a 10.7% fall in ‘publishing, printing & reproduction of recorded media’ and 8.2% decline in ‘tobacco products’.

Industry group ‘radio, TV and communication equipment & apparatus’ showed the highest positive growth of 82% in December, followed by 17.5% in ‘office, accounting & computing machinery’ and 16.6% in ‘furniture manufacturing’.