Industrial output growth stood at 1.7 percent in January on account of slowdown in the manufacturing sector.

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Factory output as measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) had grown by 7.5 percent in January 2018.

During April-January 2018-19, industrial output grew at 4.4 percent as against 4.1 percent in the same period previous fiscal, according to the data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Tuesday.

The CSO, however, revised marginally upwards the IIP growth number for December 2018 to 2.6 percent from the earlier estimate of 2.4 percent.

The growth rate of manufacturing sector dropped sharply to 1.3 percent in January from 8.7 percent in January 2018. There was also slump in the power generation segment as the expansion was almost flat at 0.8 percent compared to 7.6 percent in the year-ago month.

However, the silver lining was the mining sector which grew by 3.9 percent in January this year compared to 0.3 percent in the year-ago period.

source: tradingeconomics.com

Giving more details about the factory output in the country, the CSO said capital goods segments, considered to be a barometer of investment, and the intermediate goods segment witnessed a contraction.

Data also revealed that both growth in production of consumer durable and non-durable goods grew at a slower rate in January compared to the year-ago period.

A poll conducted by CNBC-TV18 showed that the IIP for January 2019 is likely to show some weakness, due to the softening of the core sector, which includes manufacturing, mining and electricity and constitutes 40 percent of the IIP.

For January, analysts estimate factory output to soften to levels of about 1.8 percent as compared to 2.4 percent a month before.The core sector had slowed for three straight months and the December IIP was at a 19-month low of 1.8 percent.

The Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to 54.3 in February, from 53.9 in January, amid a robust improvement in business conditions.

First Published:Mar 12, 2019 5:32 PM IST