New Delhi: India’s industrial output slipped to a four-month low, contracting 1.2% in February, mainly on account of decline in the manufacturing sector and lower offtake of capital as well as consumer goods. The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) had registered a growth of 1.99% in February 2016.

For the eleven-month period to February of the last financial year, IIP growth was nearly flat at 0.4% as against 2.6% a year ago. For January, the Central Statistics Office has revised the IIP growth rate to 3.27% from 2.74% in the provisional data released last month. The previous low was recorded in October when the IIP contracted by 1.87%. Thereafter, it shot up to 5.59% in November.

The decline in IIP for February is mainly on account of 2% contraction in manufacturing sector, which constitutes over 75% of the index. The sector had recorded a meagre growth of 0.6% in February, 2016.

The capital goods output declined by 3.4% in February over a contraction of 9.3% last year.

Similarly, the overall consumer goods production declined by 5.6% in the month compared to a growth of 0.6%. The non-durable consumer goods output shrank by 8.6% in the month over a contraction of 4.9% year ago.

In the consumer durables segment, the output dipped by 0.9% in February against a growth of 10.4% in same month last year. Overall, 15 out of 22 industry groups in the manufacturing sector have shown negative growth in February.

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