India's factory output up, retail inflation slows

New Delhi, March 12: Bringing some cheer to an otherwise disturbed industry, India’s factory output in January gained momentum and rose 2.6 percent against 1.1 percent increase during the corresponding month of 2014, even as retail inflation slowed at 5.37 percent in February against 7.88 percent in the like month of last year. Official data on Index for Industrial Production (IIP) showed that the rise in the total factory output was mainly led by a 3.3-percent expansion in manufacturing, as also 2.7 percent in electricity, even as mining activity declined 2.7 percent. The data on Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures retail inflation, showed a rise of 4.95 percent in the urban areas and a bit more at 5.79 percent in the rural segment, to take the combined figure to 5.37 percent in February.

The CPI was, however, margilly higher when compared to the figure of 5.19 percent for January 2015. The February food inflation stood at 6.79 percent. As per fil CPI inflation rate figures for January 2015 furnished by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the CPI urban for January stood at 4.96 percent and rural at 5.34 percent. January food inflation stood at 6.14 percent. Meanwhile, there was a massive increase in January 2015 IIP which was up 2.6 percent from a growth of 1.7 percent during December 2014. In November 2014, the IIP had increased by 3.8 percent, while in October it decelerated by 4.2 percent.

The cumulative growth of IIP for April-January 2014-15 stood at 2.5 percent while the figure for the corresponding period of the previous fiscal stood at 0.1 percent. (IANS)