Govt, RBI will take required steps to revive economy activity: FM

13 Apr 2012 Evaluate

Terming the Index of industrial production (IIP) numbers as ‘disappointing’, the Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee has stated that the government along with the RBI will take necessary steps to revive activity in the economy. As per the Finance Minister, the difficult global scenario combined with a tight monetary policy has pulled down industrial growth and have impacted investment recovery.

The statement is being seen as a hint towards a possible rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its upcoming monetary policy on April 17, 2012. The RBI, which had raised interest rates 13 times since March 2010 to contain spiraling inflation, is yet to reverse its decision though the price situation has improved considerably. It kept the rates unchanged in its policy reviews in December 2011 and February 2012.

The IIP numbers that came out on April 12 revealed that industrial growth rate has slipped to 4.1% in February from 6.7% a year ago. Moreover, the January numbers had been revised from a substantial 6.8% to a meager 1.1%. This meant that the industrial growth had been dismal in January and had actually improved in the month of February. This revelation made the government data not only disappointing but also unreliable.

However, on the positive side, capital goods output for February 2012 showed an expansion of 10.6 % on back of domestic investment recovery. Also electricity recorded a good rate of growth at 8% against a 6% in same period last year. Further, Mukherjee attributed the negative growth in the consumer goods sector to considerable moderation in domestic demand. The consumer goods sector output declined by 0.2% in February as against a robust growth of 13.4% in the corresponding period a year ago.

© 2025 The Alchemists Ark Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved. MoneyWorks4Me ® is a registered trademark of The Alchemists Ark Pvt. Ltd.

×