Industry: Worst performance of Indian industry, industrial production down to 26-month low

The country's industrial production declined by 4 percent in October due to the weak performance of the mining and energy sectors along with a contraction in manufacturing output. This has been the worst performance of the Indian industry in the last 26 months since August 2020. At that time industrial production had decreased by 7.1%.

According to data released on Monday by the National Statistics Office (NSO), the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) grew by 4.2 percent in October 2021. The latest data shows that the growth of the industry has turned negative after a gap of only one month. The growth rate of industrial production was 3.5% in September this year, while it declined by 0.7% in August. According to the data, the manufacturing sector's output declined by 5.6 percent in October. There was an increase of 3.3 percent in the same period a year ago. However, mining and electricity generation grew by 2.5 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively. The production of consumer durables registered a major decline of 15.3 percent, while the production of non-durable consumer goods decreased by 13.4 percent.

Performance was weaker than expected, reduction in investment

Aditi Nayar, the chief economist of rating agency ICRA, said on these figures, the decline in IIP has been more than expected. It also shows the weak performance of exports. Besides, holidays during the festive season have also affected industrial production. Madan Sabnavis, chief economist, of Bank of Baroda, said the performance of capital products has been dismal as it points to a slowdown in investment.

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