Factory output slips by 1.8% during June, India Inc expresses disappointment

NEW DELHI: Displaying consistent slowdown in the Indian economy, industrial output has slipped by 1.8% during June on weak performance by manufacturing and capital goods sectors.

The factory output during the April-June quarter also fell by 0.1% this fiscal.

The growth in factory production, as measured by the index of industrial production (IIP), has been 9.5% during June and 6.9% in April-June quarter during fiscal 2011-12.

The manufacturing sector, which accounts for more than 75% of the index, saw decline in production by 3.2% during June as compared to growth of 11.1% in the same month a year ago.

The performance of the manufacturing sector has not been good in April-June quarter and the production slipped by 0.7% against 7.7% growth seen during the same month period.

Meanwhile, India Inc has displayed disappointment and also raised concern over the poor performance of the industrial production in June. Industry chamber Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has said that the situation needs immediate policy measures both by apex bank Reserve Bank of India (RBI) along with government to help the sagging industry.

CII has said that any further fall in GDP growth will impact the employment and consumer demand. Steps like cut in repo rates to cut interest rates, implementation of fiscal consolidation plan, infrastructure project implementation are the need of the hour.