India's factory output in February moves down by 1.2 pct

" The General Index for the month of February 2017 stands at 182.3, which is 1.2 percent lower as compared to the level in the month of February 2016. The cumulative growth for the period April-February 2016-17 over the corresponding period of the previous year stands at 0.4 percent," read an official statement.

The Indices of Industrial Production for the Mining, Manufacturing and Electricity sectors for the month of February 2017 stand at 140.6, 190.1 and 182.5 respectively, with the corresponding growth rates of 3.3 percent, (-) 2.0 percent and 0.3 percent as compared to February 2016 (Statement I). The cumulative growth in these three sectors during April-February 2016-17 over the corresponding period of 2015-16 has been 1.6 percent, (-) 0.3 percent and 4.6 percent respectively.

In terms of industries, fifteen out of the twenty two industry groups ( as per 2-digit NIC-2004) in the manufacturing sector h ave shown negative growth during the month of February 2017 as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year (St atement II). The industry group ‘Tobacco products’ has shown the highest negative growth of (-) 42.8 percent followed by (-) 21.7 percent in ‘Food products and beverages’ and (-) 20.6 percent in ‘Office, accounting and computing machinery’. On the other hand, the industry group ‘Electrical machinery & apparatus n.e.c.’ has shown the highest positive growth of 17.4 percent followed by 10.7 percent in ‘Wearing apparel; dressing and dyeing of fur’ and 9.9 percent in ‘Basic metals’.

As per Use-based classification, the growth rates in February 2017 over February 2016 are 2.4 percent in Basic goods, (-) 3.4 percent in Capital goods and (-) 0.2 percent in Intermediate goods (Statement III).  The Consumer durables and Consumer non-durables have recorded growth of (-) 0.9 percent and (-) 8.6 percent respectively, with the overall growth in Consumer goods being (-) 5.6 percent.

Some important items that have registered high negative growth include ‘Woollen carpets’ [(-) 66.4%], ‘Plastic machinery including Moulding Machinery’ [(-) 52.2%], ‘Ship Building and Repairs’ [(-) 49.7%], ‘Sugar Machinery’ [(-) 47.8%], ‘Sugar’ [(-) 41.6%], ‘Molasses’ [(-) 39.0%], ‘Cigarettes’ [(-) 37.7%],  ‘Aluminium Conductor’ [(-) 29.3%], ‘Three-Wheelers (including passenger and goods carrier)’ [(-) 24.5%] and ‘Leather garments’ [(-) 22.0%].

Some important items showing high positive growth during the current month over the same month in previous year include ‘Cable, Rubber Insulated’ (241.2%), ‘Cement Machinery’ (116.5%), ‘Electric Sheets’ (90.1%), ‘HR Coils/ Skelp’ (29.1%), ‘Antibiotics and it’s preparations’ (25.6%), ‘Biaxially Oriented Polypropylene (BOPP) Film’ (25.5%) and ‘Stainless/ alloy steel’ (24.2%).

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