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IIP growth jumps to 8-month high of 7.1% in April on favourable base

The sharp up-tick in industrial growth comes after data released last month showed India's eight core sectors grew 8.4 percent in April, up from 4.9 percent in March. 

India's industrial growth, as per the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), quickened to 7.1 percent in April from 2.2 percent in March, data released on June 10 by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation showed.

At 7.1 percent, the April industrial growth rate is the highest in eight months, althouth it has been aided by a favourable base effect.

The sharp up-tick in IIP growth comes after data released last month showed India's eight core sectors grew 8.4 percent in April, up from 4.9 percent in March.

With the eight core industries accounting for 40.3 percent of the total weight of IIP, IIP growth tracks the performance of these core sectors.

IIP growth in April 2021 was 133.5 percent. The year-ago growth rates across all categories are extremely high due to a statistical effect as the base period for the April 2021 growth rates was April 2020, which saw the entire country in lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus. This brought economic activity to a halt. As such, any output comparisons with April 2020 are bound to produce unusally large growth rates.

The statistics ministry said the growth rates over corresponding period of previous year are to be interpreted "considering the unusual circumstances on account of COVID 19 pandemic since March 2020".

APRIL 2022MARCH 2022APRIL 2021IIP growth7.1%2.2%133.5%    Mining7.8%3.9%36.5%    Manufacturing6.3%1.4%196.0%    Electricity11.8%6.1%38.5%USE-BASED CLASSIFICATIONPrimary goods10.1%5.7%36.9%Capital goods14.7%2.0%1,028.6%Intermediate goods7.6%1.8%213.0%Infrastructure goods3.8%6.7%609.4%Consumer durables8.5%-2.6%1,778.2%Consumer non-durables0.3%-4.6%92.6% .