Manufacturing, capital goods push IIP growth to 7.1% in December

New Delhi: Industrial output grew by 7.1 percent in December, maintaining the recovery momentum, on the back of robust performance by manufacturing as well as higher offtake of capital goods and non-durable consumer goods.The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) had grown at 2.4 percent in December 2016, as per the data released on Monday by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).The IIP growth for November, 2017 was revised upwards to 8.8 percent from provisional estimates of 8.4 percent released last month.[caption id="attachment_3907349" align="alignleft" width="380"]

Representational image. Reuters[/caption]The IIP growth in December was mainly on account of uptick in manufacturing sector which constitutes 77.63 percent of the index. It grew by 8.4 percent during the month as compared to just 0.6 percent in December 2016.The capital goods, a barometer of investments, showed a sharp increase in output by 16.4 percent in December, 2017 as against a decline of 6.2 percent year ago.The consumer non-durables, which are mainly fast moving consumer goods, too showed an increase of 16.5 percent as against contraction of 0.2 percent.As per use-based classification, the growth rates in December 2017 over December 2016 are 3.7 percent in Primary goods, 6.2 percent in Intermediate goods and 6.7 percent in Infrastructure/Construction Goods.The Consumer durables have recorded growth of 0.9 percent in December 2017.In terms of industries, 16 out of 23 industry groups in the manufacturing sector have shown positive growth during December 2017 as compared to the same month year ago.