Industrial output grows 1% in Dec as manfacturing revives

Industrial production grew by 1 per cen t in December, entering the posi tive ter ritory after a month g ap, mainly due to better performance of the man ufacturing sector , o fficial da ta showed on Friday.

The manufacturing sector -- w hich constitutes 77.63 per cent of the index of industrial pr oduction (IIP) -recorded a g rowth of 1.6 per cent in December 2020, as per the da ta released by the National Statistical Office (NSO).

Mining sector output declined by 4.8 per cent in December 2020. However, power g eneration g rew b y 5.1 per cent.

The index had g rown b y 0.4 per cent in December 2019.

The industrial production had plunged 18.7 per cent in March last y ear f ollowing the COVID-19 outbreak and remained in the ne gative zone till August 2020.

With the r esumption of economic activities, factory output posted g rowth of one per cent in Se ptember. The IIP had g rown b y 4.2 per cent in October . In No - vember 2020, the f actory output contracted by 2.1 per cent, a tad higher than the provisional estimates of 1.9 per cent decline.

The go vernment had imposed a loc kdown to contain th e spr ead of COVID19 infections on Mar ch 25, 2020.

With the gradual relaxation of restrictions, there has been ar elative improvement in the economic activities by varying degrees as well as in data reporting, the Ministry of Statistics and P rogramme Implementation had said in a November.

The ministry had also given a disclaimer that it may not be a ppropriate to compare the IIP in the post-pandemic months with the data for the months pr eceding the COVID-19 outbreak.

The manufacturing sector had recorded a contraction of 0.3 per cent in December 2019.

Mining sector output increased by 5.7 per cent, b ut electricity g eneration shrank b y 0.1 per cent in December 2019.

The output of ca pital goods, which is a barometer of in vestment, r ose b y 0.6 per cent in December 2020 as a gainst a contra ction of 18.3 per cent.

Consumer dura bles output surg ed b y 4.9 per cent, compared to 5.6 per cent contraction in December 2019. Consumer nondurable goods pr oduction grew by two per cent, compared to a contraction of 3.2 per cent a year ago.

The IIP f or the A pril-December period has contracted by 13.5 per cent, a ccording to the da ta. It had registered a f lat g rowth of 0.3 per cent during the same period last fiscal.