India Industrial Production Rose 1.4 % in April
By wchung | 31 Jan, 2025

India’s industrial production rose 1.4 percent in April, the government said Friday, fueling hopes that Asia’s third-largest economy may be on the road to recovery.

The government also revised its March data for industrial production, saying it fell 0.75 percent from a year earlier instead of the initially estimated 2.3 percent contraction.

April’s growth was the most robust since November. Production at mines grew 3.8 percent, manufacturing grew 0.7 percent, and electricity grew 7.1 percent over last April.

“April’s industrial production data points tentatively to stabilization for the industrial sector. Demand for the industrial sector’s consumer goods appears to remain weak, but this has been offset by government infrastructure and construction projects,” Moody’s Economy.com economist Nikhilesh Bhattacharyya said in a report.

Production of consumer durables, like washing machines, grew 16.9 percent, while consumer non-durables contracted 10.4 percent. Production of capital goods — which include heavy equipment like forklifts and generators — slipped 1.3 percent.

The victory of the Congress party coalition in national elections last month raised hopes for market liberalization, the sell-down of government stakes in state-run businesses, and infrastructure spending. That added to the optimism about a potential economic rebound, despite lingering concerns over seven straight months of declining exports and growing government debt.

India has fared far better than some of its more export-dependent neighbors, which have seen double-digit declines in industrial output, and Goldman Sachs said the election outcome “may help India ‘decouple’ further from the global economy by giving a fillip to domestic demand.”

After the election, Citigroup revised its GDP growth estimate for the current fiscal year from 5.5 percent to 6.8 percent and for next year from 6.6 percent to 7.8 percent.

India’s economy grew 6.7 percent for the fiscal year ended in March, down from 9 percent the prior year and its slowest since 2003.

6/12/2009 5:19 AM ERIKA KINETZ AP Business Writer MUMBAI, India