Factory output shrinks for third month, dips 1.5% in January

Showing sluggishness in the economy, industrial production contracted by 1.5% in January due to poor performance of manufacturing sector and lower offtake of capital goods.

Showing sluggishness in the economy, industrial production contracted by 1.5% in January -- its third straight month of drop -- due to poor performance of manufacturing sector and lower offtake of capital goods.

Factory output measured in terms of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) had declined by 3.4% in November and 1.2% in December, according to the data released by Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The index had registered a growth of 2.8% in January last year, it said. During April-January, industrial output growth remained flat at 2.7 compared to the year ago period.

The decline in January has been primarily on account of a massive drop in output of capital goods, which showed a contraction of 20.4% in January compared to a growth of 12.4% in the same month a year ago.

The manufacturing sector, which accounts for over 75% of the index, declined by 2.8% against a growth of 3.4% in January 2015. However, the mining sector showed an improvement, logging a growth of 1.2% in the month as against a contraction of 1.8% in same month a year ago.

Power generation showed acceleration, growing by 6.6% as against 3.3% growth year ago. As per used based classification, basic goods reported a marginal increase of 1.8% as against a growth of 4.8 last year.

The consumer goods output remained stagnant as against 1.9% contraction. Consumer durables, however, showed growth of 5.8% in January as against a contraction of 5.7% during the same month last fiscal.

However, the consumer non-durable segment showed a contraction of 3.1% in January as against a growth of 0.3% in the corresponding month. In terms of industries, 10 out of the 22 industry groups in the manufacturing sector showed negative growth during January.