Industrial production growth slows further to 1.7% in May

Industrial production growth in India slowed further year-on-year, falling to 1.7 per cent in May 2017 from levels around 3.1 per cent in April. Cumulative growth in production for the period April-May 2016-17 stands at 2.3 per cent.

Production growth rates in the mining, manufacturing and electricity sectors stood at (-) 0.9 per cent, 1.2 per cent and 8.7 per cent, respectively, in May 2017 while cumulative production in the three sectors during April-May 2016-17 expanded 1.1 percent, 1.8 percent and 7.1 percent respectively.

Twelve out of the 23 industry groups in the manufacturing sector have shown positive growth during May 2017. The industry group 'manufacture of pharmaceuticals, medicinal chemical and botanical products' has shown the highest positive growth of 24.5 per cent, followed by 'other manufacturing' 24.4 per cent and 'manufacture of other transport equipment' 11.8 per cent.

On the other hand, the industry group 'manufacture of beverages' has shown the highest negative growth of (-) 16.5 per cent in May 2017 followed by 'Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers' (-) 15.1 per cent and 'manufacture of electrical equipment' (-) 15.0 percent.

Primary goods production declined by 3.4 per cent in May 2017 while capital goods production increased by 3.9 per cent, intermediate goods production increased by 0.7 per cent and infrastructure / construction goods production increased by 0.1 per cent.