India’s factory output falls by 0.8% in April

In a rather disappointing start to this fiscal year, India’s factory output fell 0.8 per cent in April against a marginal growth of 0.30 percent in the month before, official data showed on Friday.

In a rather disappointing start to this fiscal year, India’s factory output fell 0.8% in April against a marginal growth of 0.30% in the month before, official data showed on Friday.

Employees work inside a steel factory in Agartala. (REUTERS)

As per data on Index of Industrial Production (IIP) released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the fall was mainly on account of a 3.1% drop in manufacturing output, which also has the maximum weight in the overall index.

Among the other two major sub-indices, while the one for electricity generation rose a robust 14.6%, that for mining expanded by just 1.4%.

In the past six months, the general index has taken a drop on four occasions, while growing by a mere 2% in February and 0.3% in March. The last robust growth, which had surprised stakeholders, was in October last year, when the general index rose 9.87%.