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NEW DELHI, Dec. 12

THE noticeable revival in industrial activity during the first half of the current fiscal seems to be continuing in the second half as well, with the industry registering a 6.2 per cent growth during October.

The 6.2 per cent year-on-year rise recorded in the official Index of Industrial Production (IIP) during October 2002 — as per the Central Statistical Organisation's (CSO) quick estimates released here on Thursday — was a significant improvement over the corresponding growth rate of 3.2 per cent for October 2001.

The cumulative increase in the `general' IIP for April-October 2002 worked out to 5.5 per cent, which was also higher than the corresponding growth rate of 2.5 per cent recorded during the first seven months of the previous fiscal.

Further, all the three major sectors constituting the general index — manufacturing, mining and electricity — registered higher growth rates during October 2002 as well as the April-October 2002 period.

While the overall growth rate during April-October 2002 for manufacturing was 5.6 per cent (2.7 per cent during April-October 2001), the corresponding figures for mining and electricity stood at 6.1 per cent (0.2 per cent) and 4 per cent (2.6 per cent), respectively.

Similarly, for October 2002, the growth rates for manufacturing, mining and electricity, at 6.4 per cent, 3.8 per cent and 7.4 per cent, respectively were higher than their corresponding October 2001 levels of 3.5 per cent, 3.7 per cent and minus 0.2 per cent. Thus, the current revival trend seems to be cutting across all major industrial sectors.

These trends are also visible in the CSO's data pertaining to the `use-based' classification of the IIP. Production of capital goods — a proxy for investment demand in economy — went up by 12.2 per cent in October 2002 compared to a minus 0.3 per cent decline recorded in the same month last year. For the April-October 2002 period, capital goods registered a 9.3 per cent growth as against minus 5.9 per cent in the first seven months of the previous fiscal.

Similarly, for basic goods, the growth rates for both October 2002 as well as April-October 2002, at 5 per cent and 4.9 per cent, were higher than their corresponding previous year's levels of 1.3 per cent and 1.9 per cent, respectively.

The same was the case with consumer non-durables, the output of which soared by 14.6 per cent in October 2002 (against 2.1 per cent in October 2001) and 14.4 per cent (2.7 per cent) during April-October 2002.

The picture was less buoyant though for the other sub-sectors. During October 2002, the growth rates for intermediate goods and consumer durables, at 4.1 per cent and minus 5.9 per cent, were lower than their corresponding October 2001 levels of 1.3 per cent and 25.2 per cent, respectively.

Even for April-October 2002, the growth rates for intermediate goods and consumer durables, at 2.1 per cent and minus 6.3 per cent, were below their corresponding April-October 2001 levels of 2.6 per cent and 14.2 per cent, respectively.

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