Poor mining output drags IIP growth to three-month low of 4.3% in August, govt data shows

New Delhi: Industrial production growth slipped to a three-month low of 4.3 percent in August mainly due to a sharp decline in the mining sector output and poor offtake of capital goods, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO) data. The industrial production measured in terms of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) was 4.8 percent in August last year, the CSO data released on Friday showed. The mining sector production contracted by 0.4 percent in August compared to a growth of 9.3 percent in the year-ago month. Similarly the capital goods output growth decelerated to 5 percent during the month from a 7.3 percent expansion year ago. [caption id=“attachment_4317853” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] The IIP growth is the lowest since May when industrial production grew at 3.9 percent. Industrial production expanded by 6.8 percent in June and 6.5 percent in July. The manufacturing sector output grew at 4.6 percent in August compared to 3.8 percent a year ago. Power generation grew at the rate of 7.6 percent in the month as against 8.3 percent in the year-ago month. In terms of industries, 16 out of 23 industry groups in the manufacturing sector have shown positive growth during August 2018 as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year. As per use-based classification, the growth rates in August 2018 over August 2017 are 2.6 percent in primary goods, 2.4 percent in intermediate goods and 7.8 percent in Infrastructure/ Construction Goods. The consumer durables and consumer non-durables have recorded growth rates of 5.2 percent and 6.3 percent respectively. According to data, the IIP growth in April-August was 5.2 percent, up from 2.3 percent in corresponding period in the previous fiscal.