India's Industrial Output Rises To 4.8% In July

India's industrial output grew at a faster pace in July compared to a month ago, led by electricity.

The Index of Industrial Production grew 4.8% in July, as compared to a revised estimate of 4.7% in June, according to data published by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on Thursday.

A poll of economists by Bloomberg had forecast IIP growth at 4.6%.

IIP hinted at weakness in the production of consumption-related goods, with consumer durables growth slowing and non-durables declining at a greater pace, said Dharmakirti Joshi, chief economist at Crisil. However, IIP data has been at odds with gross domestic product data recently, as the latter showed a sharp rise in private consumption growth. This could be because consumption demand is rising more for services than goods. It is also possible some of the domestic demand is being met by imported goods rather than domestic production, he explained.

• Mining output rose 3.7% in July compared to 10.3% in June.

• Manufacturing output grew 4.6% compared to 3.2% in the previous month.

• Electricity generation rose 7.9% compared to 8.6%.

Industrial output, as classified by the end use of goods, showed:

• Primary goods output rose 5.9% compared to 6.3% in June.

• Capital goods output increased 12% compared to 3.8% in the previous month.

• Intermediate goods output grew 6.8% compared to 3% last month.

• Infrastructure and construction goods output gained 4.9% compared to 7.1% earlier.

• Consumer durables output rose 8.2% compared to 8.7% in the previous month.

• Consumer non-durables output fell 4.4% compared to a fall of 1.5% in June.