IIP growth slows to five-month low of 4.4% in March, pulled down by falling capital goods output

New Delhi: Industrial output grew by 4.4 percent in March, the slowest in five months, due to a fall in capital goods production and deceleration in mining activity, according to the official data. Industrial growth measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) in 2017-18 too decelerated to 4.3 percent from 4.6 percent in the previous fiscal. The IIP grew by 4.4 percent in March 2017, the same as in March this year, the data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showed on Friday. The previous low at 1.8 percent was recorded in October 2017. [caption id=“attachment_4235785” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] Manufacturing sector, which constitutes over 77 percent of the index, grew at 4.4 percent in March as compared to 3.3 percent in the same month a year ago. The output of mining sector decelerated to 2.8 percent during the month as compared to 10.1 percent in March 2017. Similarly, power generation too slowed down to 5.9 percent as against 6.2 percent in March 2017. Capital goods output, however, declined by 1.8 percent during March as compared to a growth of 9.4 percent in the corresponding period last year. Consumer durables output on the other hand showed an increase of 2.9 percent as against decline of 0.6 percent in March 2017. The consumer non-durables segment showed an impressive growth of 10.9 percent in March as against 7.5 percent in corresponding month last year. During 2017-18, the manufacturing sector recorded a growth of 4.5 percent, marginally up from 4.4 percent in 2016-17. The mining sector as well as power generation reported deceleration to 2.3 percent and 4.6 percent from 5.3 percent and 5.4 percent respectively in 2016-17.