While 2013 has seen notable troughs in the production of consumer durables, with the index rcording falls of 18.3 per cent in May and 12.1 per cent, 10.8 per cent and 10.1 per cent in October, September and June, respectively, November is the first month where the decline has gone above 20 per cent.
Key contributors to the decline include automobiles, gems & jewellery and home appliances. Weightage-wise, these categories contribute 31.4 per cent, 17.6 per cent and 4.2 per cent, respectively, to the consumer durables index.
Aditi Nayar, senior economist at credit rating agency ICRA, says the post-harvest (October-November) uptick in demand has been weaker than expected.
"Plus, there was a shadow effect of the situation prevailing in gems and jewellery.
"Activity there has been low due to the sharp drop in gold imports, the basic raw material for that segment.
"Demand in the auto and appliances industries, meanwhile, has been weak for a while," she adds.
Passenger car sales fell in 2013 for the first time in 11 years, as customers continued to defer purchases amid a slowdown.
Data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers show passenger car sales fell 9.6 per cent to 1,807,011 vehicles from 1,998,703 the previous year.
A poor market has compelled companies to cut production of these on 13 occasions over the past 18 months. November was no exception.
Similarly, home appliance sales (and, therefore, production) in 2013 was sluggish on account of persistent price increases, due to depreciation of the rupee against the dollar.
According to industry estimates, price rises in categories such as refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners (ACs) and microwave ovens through 2013 was nine to 20
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