IIP grows 4.5% in February, highest in 7 months on higher output in mining, manufacturing and electricity

New Delhi: India's industrial production grew at the fastest pace in seven months at 4.5 percent during February, mainly on account of uptick in mining and manufacturing activity as well as power generation, official data showed on Thursday.Factory output, as measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), had recorded a growth of 0.2 percent in February 2019. It had registered a growth of 4.9 percent in July 2019.The production contracted by 1.4 percent in August, 4.6 in September and 6.6 percent in October last year. It grew 2.1 percent in November and 0.1 percent in December 2019 and 2.1 percent in January 2020. Last month, provisional data showed IIP growth of 2 percent in January, 2020.According to a data by the National Statistical Office (NSO), the manufacturing sector output grew at a rate of 3.2 percent in February compared to a contraction of 0.3 percent in the same month a year ago.Electricity generation increased by 8.1 percent as against a growth of 1.3 percent in February 2019. Mining sector output surged by 10 percent compared to a growth of 2.2 percent earlier.The IIP growth during the April-February period of the last fiscal decelerated to 0.9 percent from 4 percent expansion in the same period of 2018-19.The data for February showed that production of capital goods, a barometer of investment, shrunk by 9.7 percent as compared to a contraction of 9.3 percent in the corresponding month of the previous year.As per use-based classification, primary good registered a growth of 7.4 percent, intermediate goods 22.4 percent, and infrastructure/construction goods 0.1 percent in February 2020 as against the same period a year ago.The consumer durables output fell 6.4 percent, while non-durables remained flat.In terms of industries, 13 out of 23 industry groups in the manufacturing sector have shown positive growth in February 2020.The industry group 'Manufacture of basic metals' has shown the highest positive growth of 18.2 percent followed by 8.0 percent in 'Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products' and in 'Manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products', as per the data.On the other hand, the industry group 'Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers' has shown the highest negative growth of (-) 15.6 percent followed by (-) 14.8 percent in Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products', and (-) 9.9 percent in Manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment.