India's factory output moves up by 1.2 pct in July

"The General Index for the month of July 2017 stands at 118.2, which is 1.2 percent higher as compared to the level in the month of July 2016," read a statement issued by the government.

"The cumulative growth for the period April-July 2017 over the corresponding period of the previous year stands at 1.7 percent," it said.

The Indices of Industrial Production for the Mining, Manufacturing and Electricity sectors for the month of July 2017 stand at 92.6, 119.5 and 151.8 respectively, with the corresponding growth rates of 4.8 percent, 0.1 percent and 6.5 percent as compared to July 2016 (Statement I). The cumulative growth in these three sectors during April-July 2017 over the corresponding period of 2016 has been 2.1 percent, 1.3 percent and 5.6 percent respectively.

In terms of industries, eight out of the twenty three industry groups (as per 2-digit NIC-2008) in the manufacturing sector have shown positive growth during the month of July 2017 as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year (Statement II). The industry group ‘Other manufacturing’ has shown the highest positive growth of 20.9 percent followed by 18.9 percent in ‘Manufacture of pharmaceuticals, medicinal chemical and botanical products’ and 10.5 percent in ‘Manufacture of other transport equipment’. On the other hand, the industry group ‘Manufacture of tobacco products’ has shown the highest negative growth of (-) 43.4 percent followed by (-) 11.1 percent in ‘Manufacture of electrical equipment’ and (-) 8.8 percent in ‘Printing and reproduction of recorded media’.

As per Use-based classification, the growth rates in July 2017 over July 2016 are 2.3 percent in Primary goods, (-) 1.0 percent in Capital goods, (-) 1.8 percent in Intermediate goods and 3.7 percent in Infrastructure/ Construction Goods (Statement III).  The Consumer durables and Consumer non-durables have recorded growth of (-) 1.3 percent and 3.4 percent respectively.

Some important items showing high positive growth during the current month over the same month in previous year include ‘Steroids and hormonal preparations (including anti-fungal preparations)’ (89.4%), ‘Digestive enzymes and antacids (incl. PPI drugs)’ (54.5%), ‘API & formulations of hypo-lipidemic agents incl. anti-hyper-triglyceridemics (e.g. simvastatin, atorvastatin, etc); anti-hypertensive’ (43.1%), ‘Vaccine for veterinary medicine’ (42.5%), ‘Printed Circuit Boards (whether or not mounted with IC chips /components)’ (37.7%), ‘HR plates of mild steel’ (31.3%), ‘Axle’ (30.3%), ‘Jewellery of gold (studded with stones or not)’ (27.8%), ‘HR coils and sheets of mild steel’ (23.2%),  and  ‘Full-cream/ Toned/ Skimmed milk, whether or not chilled’ (20.5%).

Some important items that have registered high negative growth include ‘Other tobacco products’ [(-) 69.9%], ‘Shelled cashew kernel, whether or not processed/ roasted/ salted’ [(-) 61.5%], ‘Kerosene’ [(-) 51.5%], ‘Plastic jars, bottles and containers’ [(-) 50.5%], ‘Printing machinery’ [(-) 48.9%], ‘Ayurvedic and Homeopathic medicaments’ [(-) 35.7%],  ‘Tooth Paste’ [(-) 32.0%], ‘Electrical apparatus for switching or protecting electrical circuits (e.g switchgear, circuit breakers/switches, control/ meter panel)’ [(-) 30.5%], ‘Antibiotics, API & formulations’ [(-) 27.6%], ‘Palm Oil refined (including Palmolein)’ [(-) 26.5%] and ‘API & formulations of vitamins’ [(-) 22.1%].

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