Perspective on IIP Numbers

Vivek Rathi, Director ? Research, Knight Frank India The country's output of the eight core sectors — also known as the infrastructural output, grew 6.8 per cent in March 2021, according to government data released on April 30. The infrastructu

BY Realty Plus
Published - Saturday, 12 Jun, 2021

Vivek Rathi, Director ? Research, Knight Frank India The country's output of the eight core sectors — also known as the infrastructural output, grew 6.8 per cent in March 2021, according to government data released on April 30. The infrastructure output, comprising the eight core sectors including coal, crude oil, electricity, etc registered a de-growth of seven per cent during the April-March 2020-2021 period. India’s retail inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), eased to 4.29 per cent in the month of April on decline in food prices. Separately, the country’s factory output, measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), witnessed a 22.4 per cent growth in March on low base effect, two separate data released by the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI). The IIP number for April 2021 was expected to be heavily influenced by the base period, which saw a strict national lockdown and consequent standstill of economic activities. While the second wave of COVID-19 infection in the country has been disastrous for lives, the economic impact of associated graded regional lockdowns has been moderate. With these graded lockdowns and responsible citizen behaviour towards the pandemic, the country is making an encouraging progress to come out of the second wave. Going forward, we believe that the progress on vaccination will be a key factor that shall instil consumption confidence and ensure sustained demand pick-up. This should also chart out the way forward for improved production capacity utilisation and sustained IIP growth.