There was more good news for the government on the economic front with the industry recording a 6.5 per cent growth for the first 10 months of the current financial year as against 5.7 per cent during the same period of the last fiscal.
The growth for the month of January is estimated to have touched 7.4 per cent as against 6.7 per cent during the same period of 2003, according to the estimates of Index of Industrial Production.
The quick estimates of IIP released by the Central Statistical Organisation also reveal that the manufacturing sector grew by a satisfactory 7.1 per cent during the first ten months of the current fiscal as against 5.9 per cent during the same period of last financial year.
During January, the growth in the sector stood at 7.5 per cent as against 7.2 per cent during the same period of 2003.
As for the electricity sector, the growth declined to 3.7 per cent during April-January of 2003-04 fiscal as against 3.9 per cent during the same period of last financial year.
During January the electricity output grew by 5.9 per cent as against 4.5 during the comparable period of 2003, the figures reveal.
The mining sector also declined to 4.5 per cent during the first ten months of the current fiscal as against 5.4 during April-January, 2003-04.
During January, however it shot up to 7.4 per cent as against 2.4 per cent during January 2003.
The CSO figures reveal that as many as 13 of the 17 two-digit industry groups have shown positive growth during the month of January 2004 as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year.