Feb IIP grows by 7.1 %; March retail inflation dips to 5-month-low 4.28%
12 April 2018 5:14 PM GMT
New Delhi: Reflecting improvement in the economic situation, industrial production grew by a healthy 7.1 per cent in February while the key retail inflation slipped to a five-month low of 4.28 per cent in March, official data showed on Thursday.
The uptick in industrial production has been driven largely by the robust performance of the manufacturing sector coupled with higher offtake of capital goods and consumer durables.
Retail inflation based on the Consumer Prime Index (CPI) moderated in March due to easing food prices, including vegetables.
Both the set of data were released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) had grown by 1.2 per cent in February 2017. It had recorded a growth of 8.54 per cent in November, 7.1 per cent in December and 7.4 per cent in January, as per the revised data.
However during April-February, IIP growth slowed to 4.3 per cent from 4.7 per cent in the same period last fiscal.
Manufacturing sector, which constitutes over 77 per cent of the index, grew at 8.7 per cent in February as compared to almost flat growth of 0.7 per cent in the same month a year ago.
Similarly, capital goods output rose by a robust 20 per cent in the month under review as against a contraction of 2.4 per cent earlier.
Consumer durables too grew at 7.9 per cent as against a contraction of 4.6 per cent in February 2017. Electricity generation also grew by 4.5 per cent compared to 1.2 per cent.
However, mining output declined by 0.3 per cent against a growth 4.6 per cent earlier.
CSO data showed that retail inflation slipped to a five-month low 4.28 per cent in March. CPI, a key data factored in by the RBI to decide the interest rate, was 4.44 per cent in February. However, the March 2018 inflation is higher than 3.89 per cent recorded in the same month last year.
The earlier low at 3.58 per cent was recorded in October 2017.
The Reserve Bank had maintained status quo on interest rate in its monetary policy earlier this month, citing inflationary concerns.
While the retail inflation is on the decline, it is still above the RBI's mid-term target of 4 per cent. The government has mandated the RBI to tame inflation at 4 per cent with a margin of 2 per cent on either side.
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