With recovery in manufacturing, consumer goods and power sectors, India's industrial output, measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), rose to an eight-month high of 3.6 per cent in October 2020. This is second straight month of growth. The IIP had contracted by 6.6 per cent in October 2019. The data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) under Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation showed that for the month of October 2020, the Quick Estimates of IIP with base 2011-12 stood at 128.5.
The manufacturing sector, which has a weightage of 77.6 per cent in the IIP, recorded a growth of 3.5 per cent in October. In the year-ago period, the sector had a contraction of 5.7 per cent. Electricity generation sector recorded an impressive growth of 11.2 per cent in October, while output of mining sector contracted by 1.5 per cent during the same period. The Indices of Industrial Production for the Mining, Manufacturing and Electricity sectors for the month of October 2020 stand at 98.0, 130.7 and 162.2 respectively.
As per the use-based classification, the consumer durables segment, which mainly includes white goods, posted an impressive growth of 17.6 per cent in October whereas it was a contraction of 18.9 per cent in the same period a year ago. As per the NSO data, output of capital goods -- a barometer of investment -- grew 3.3 per cent in October. There was a contraction of 22.4 per cent in the year-ago month. Consumer non-durable goods production grew 7.5 per cent while it was a contraction of 3.3 per cent in the year-ago period. The 'infrastructure/ construction goods' segment of the IIP posted a growth of 7.8 per cent in October 2020. However, the primary goods segment posted contraction of 3.3 per cent during the month under review.