12 January,2010 01:15 PM IST | | PTI
Industrial growth has gathered pace as factory production rose by 11.7 per cent in November 2009, fuelled by stimulus-backed demand for manufactured goods, particularly consumer goods.
Industrial growth was just 2.5 per cent in November 2008. Manufactured goods, which have around 80 per cent weight in the Index of Industrial Production, which measures industrial growth, grew by 12.7 per cent in November 2009 compared to 2.7 per cent in the same month a year ago.
Within this category, consumer durable goods production expanded by 37.3 per cent in the month against just 0.3 per cent a year ago.
Industrial output in the first quarter of 2009-10 stood at 3.8 per cent and in the second quarter at 9.2 per cent. With better-than-expected performance in November, industrial production in the first two months of the third quarter now expanded at more than 10 per cent, as it grew by 10.3 per cent in October.
The continuous rise of industrial production gives enough hope that the recovery is on a firm footing and will fuel the debate whether stimulus provided by the government to spur the economy should be withdrawn now or not.
