New
Delhi: The estimates of the Index of Industrial Production
(IIP) for April, released by the Central Statistical Organisation
(CSO) yesterday, show that Indian industry registered
a 9.4 per cent growth during the first month of the current
fiscal, as against 4.2 per cent during April 2003. This
comes just a fortnight after the commerce ministry's export
data for April pointing at a 19.95 per cent growth in
dollar terms.
The
9.4 per cent industrial growth for April has been powered
by the manufacturing index, which has recorded a year-on-year
increase of 9.2 per cent, compared to 4.3 per cent in
April 2003. The other two major sectors comprising the
general IIP - mining' and electricity' have also
notched up higher growth rates of 9.5 per cent (6.3 per
cent) and 10.7 per cent (1.9 per cent), respectively.
The buoyant numbers for the opening month of the current
fiscal follows an overall industrial growth rate of 6.9
per cent during 2003-04, against 5.7 per cent for 2002-03.
The
`use-based' classification of the IIP provides further
encouraging news. The index for `capital goods'
considered a reliable proxy for investment activity in
the economy has surged by 23.2 per cent in April,
which is on top of a year-on-year growth of 6.5 per cent
for the same month of the preceding fiscal.
The
indices for `basic goods,' `intermediate goods' and `consumer
durables' have also correspondingly registered higher
growth rates of 8.2 per cent (2.8 per cent), 9.4 per cent
(2.1 per cent) and 17.7 per cent (0.4 per cent), respectively.
Only
consumer non-durables have shown a lower growth of 3.5
per cent during April 2004, compared to 9.1 per cent in
April 2003.
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