Factory output grows 2% in February after 3 months of contraction

New Delhi: Industrial production grew 2 percent year on year in February after staying negative for the last 3 months on better performance of mining, power and consumer goods, a proof that economic recovery is holding up.

Factory output measured in terms of the index of industrial production (IIP) declined 3.4 percent in November, 1.2 percent in December and 1.5 percent in January, data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showed.

The index had registered a growth of 4.8 percent in February last year, it said.

During April-February, industrial output grew at 2.6 percent compared with a growth of 2.8 percent in the year-ago period.

The growth in February has come on top of improvement in output of consumer durable goods, which grew 9.7 percent in February as against a contraction of 3.8 percent in the same month a year ago.

The manufacturing sector, which constitutes over 75 percent of the index, grew at 0.7 percent against a growth of 5.1 percent in February 2015.

Mining too shaped up, logging a growth of 5 percent as against a growth of 1.6 percent in same month a year ago.

Power generation accelerated, growing 9.6 percent compared with 5.9 percent growth a year earlier.

As per use-based classification, basic goods reported a growth of 5.4 percent as against an expansion of 4.9 last year.

However, capital goods, a barometer for investment flow, contracted 9.8 percent in February compared with a growth of 8.3 percent in the year-ago period.

The overall consumer goods output grew at 0.8 as against a growth of 4.9 percent.

The consumer non-durable segment contracted 4.2 percent in February as against a growth of 10.5 percent in the corresponding month.

In terms of industries, 16 out of the 22 industry groups in the manufacturing sector showed a positive growth in February.