Industrial growth shrinks by 2% in Dec

After contracting for the first time in 15 years in October, industrial production again crashed by two per cent in December against a growth rate of a whopping 8 per cent a year ago despite a stimulus package announced by the government to boost sagging demand.

The manufacturing sector, which has a weight of about 80 per cent in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), registered negative growth of 2.5 per cent against a rise of 8.6 per cent in December 2007.

Even mining output and electricity generation grew only by one per cent and 1.6 per cent against 5 per cent and 3.8 per cent, respectively, a year ago.

The production of consumer durables and consumer non-durables as well as intermediate items declined.

Consumer durables production fell as much as 12.8 per cent. For the first nine months of the current fiscal, industrial growth stood at 3.2 per cent against 9 per cent a year ago.

The official advance estimates released earlier this week pegged industrial growth at 4.8 per cent for the current fiscal.