Factory output shrinks for 3rd month, dips 1.5% in Jan

Showing sluggishness in the economy, industrial production contracted by 1.5 per cent in January -- its third straight month of drop -- due to poor performance of manufacturing sector and lower offtake of capital goods.

Factory output measured in terms of Index of Industrial Production had declined by 3.4 per cent in November and 1.2 per cent in December, according to the data released by Central Statistics Office.

The index had registered a growth of 2.8 per cent in January last year, it said.

During April-January, industrial output growth remained flat at 2.7 compared to the year ago period.

The decline in January has been primarily on account of a massive drop in output of capital goods, which showed a contraction of 20.4 per cent in January compared to a growth of 12.4 per cent in the same month a year ago.

The manufacturing sector, which accounts for over 75 per cent of the index, declined by 2.8 per cent against a growth of 3.4 per cent in January 2015.

However, the mining sector showed an improvement, logging a growth of 1.2 per cent in the month as against a contraction of 1.8 per cent in same month a year ago.

Power generation showed acceleration, growing by 6.6 per cent as against 3.3 per cent growth year ago.

As per used based classification, basic goods reported a marginal increase of 1.8 per cent as against a growth of 4.8 last year.

The consumer goods output remained stagnant as against 1.9 per cent contraction.

Consumer durables, however, showed growth of 5.8 per cent in January as against a contraction of 5.7 per cent during the same month last fiscal.

However, the consumer non-durable segment showed a contraction of 3.1 per cent in January as against a growth of 0.3 per cent in the corresponding month.

In terms of industries, 10 out of the 22 industry groups in the manufacturing sector showed negative growth during January.

The image is used for representational purpose only. Photograph: Reuters