India's industrial output rises 4.7 percent in May

New Delhi, July 11 (IANS) India's industrial output rose by 4.7 percent in May, the best performance in nearly two years, on the back of healthy growth in manufacturing production, government data showed Friday.

The cumulative growth in factory output, measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for the first two months of the current fiscal stood at 4 percent. The 4.7 percent growth in industrial output registered in May is the best performance since October 2012.

Manufacturing sector registered a healthy 4.8 percent growth during the month under review, according to data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Mining registered a growth of 2.7 percent, while electricity output jumped by 6.3 percent in May.

Commenting on the monthly data, director general of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Chandrajit Banerjee said the rise in industrial production for the second month in a row provides a glimmer of hope that the economy could be bottoming out and recovery could be on the anvil.

"No doubt, the favourable base effect of last year and the double digit export growth experienced during the month could have also contributed in boosting industrial activity during the month, but the overall trend is positive," Banerjee said.

In terms of industries, 16 out of the 22 industry groups in the manufacturing sector registered positive growth during the month under review.

The industry group Furniture showed the highest growth of 60 percent, followed by 37.1 percent in tobacco products and 33.7 percent in electrical machinery and apparatus.

"While it is reassuring to see some pick up in the growth of manufacturing in May but it needs to be seen in the context of negative base," said Sidharth Birla, president, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

"The encouraging sign is the broad-based growth as sixteen out of twenty two sectors have shown positive growth in manufacturing," Birla said.