Giving early signs of economic recovery, industrial production grew 1.4 per cent in April after contraction for months together since September when global financial crisis deepened.
However, certain crucial sectors like consumer non-durables, including processed food products and capital goods posted negative growth.
Processed food items declined by a whopping 34 per cent.
Also, 1.4 per cent growth in factory output is no match for the 6.2 per cent expansion it clocked in the same month last year.
Nonetheless, slowdown in industrial growth, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), appears to be bottoming out.
Provisional figures showed industrial contraction for almost every month since Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy in mid-September last year which deepened the global financial meltdown.
"We have bottomed up and we are on a path of recovery," economic think-tank National Institute for Public Finance and Policy's Director Govinda Rao said.
However, the good news on industrial production failed to enthuse the stock markets with benchmark equity index Sensex shedding nearly 153 points at 15,355 points at mid-session.
The biggest surprise in IIP data was the electricity generation which grew by 7.1 per cent in April against 1.4 per
cent in the same month a year ago.
No comments:
Post a Comment