The Hindu Business Line : Manufacturing pushes up industrial growth

New Delhi April 12 Propelled by the manufacturing sector, the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) registered an 11 per cent growth during February 2007 as against 8.8 per cent in the same month last year.

For April-February 2006-07, IIP improved by 11.1 per cent as against 8.1 per cent in the same period last fiscal.

The manufacturing sector improved by 12.3 per cent in February compared to 9.2 per cent in the same month of 2006. For the April-February period, manufacturing grew by 12.1 per cent as against 9.1 per cent in the corresponding period last fiscal.

Within the manufacturing sector, basic goods production improved by 10.4 per cent during February 2007 as against 9.6 per cent in February 2006.

For the April-February 2006-07 period, basic goods improved by 10.1 per cent, up significantly from 6.5 per cent during the same period last fiscal.

Capital goods impress

The growth in the capital goods sector stood at an impressive 18.2 per cent during February 2007 as compared to 10.7 per cent in February 2006. However, for the first eleven months of 2006-07, the growth in the capital goods sector was marginally up at 17.8 per cent as compared to 16.3 per cent during the same period in the previous fiscal.

Growth in the intermediate sector during February this year stood at 13.7 per cent as against 2.2 per cent in the same month last year while for the eleven-month period, the growth stood at 11.6 per cent as against 2.4 per cent in the previous year.

The mining sector too did well, recording a growth of 6.3 per cent in February this year against 3.8 per cent in the same month last fiscal while the growth during the first eleven months stood at 4.9 per cent as compared to 0.9 per cent in the same period last fiscal.

However, the poor performance of the electricity sector acted as a dampener to restrict the overall growth of the IIP. The electricity sector grew by 3.3 per cent as against 9.1 per cent in February 2006. For the eleven-month period of 2006-07, the electricity sector posted a growth of 7.2 per cent as compared to 5.3 per cent in the same period in the preceding years.