India's IIP Growth Jumps to 8-Month High in April at 7.1%

India's industrial growth, as per the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), rose to 7.1 per cent in April from 2.2 per cent in March, official data showed.

April's industrial activity is reportedly the highest in 8 months. A quick estimates of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) with base 2011-12 stands at 135.1.

The Indices of Industrial Production for the Mining, Manufacturing and Electricity sectors for the month of April 2022 stand at 116, 132.5 and 194.5, respectively. These Quick Estimates will undergo revision in subsequent releases, as per the revision policy of the IIP.

As per use-based classification, the indices stand at 139.3 for primary goods, 90.6 for capital goods, 150.2 for intermediate goods and 149.4 for infrastructure/ construction goods for the month of April 2022. Further, the indices for consumer durables and consumer non-durables stand at 112.1 and 140.4, respectively for the month.

Data for the Index for May 2022 will be available on July 12.

"Categorically, except for electricity, industrial production broadly remained lacklustre in April 2022. Sequential decline in capital goods, which is a proxy for investments is worrisome. Also, persisting contraction in consumer durables adds to concerns of weakening consumption growth amidst rising prices, which needs policy attention," said Vivek Rathi, Director-Research Knight Frank India.

Nish Bhatt, Founder & CEO of investment consultancy Millwood Kane International, said: "Though the industrial growth has seen an uptick, it has been very erratic, it needs sustained growth over a long period of time for policymakers to take note of it and the next key data to watch for will be the CPI data that is due next week."

Dharmakirti Joshi, Chief Economist of Crisil, said: "While the high on-year growth in April is low-base driven, IIP did show improvement sequentially as well. What's worrying is that consumer goods growth remains weak, indicating sluggish private consumption."