India's industrial growth, as reflected in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), accelerated to a 6-month high of 5.2 per cent in November, up from 3.5 per cent in October of the current financial year (2024-25), according to data released by the Ministry of Statistics on Friday.
The increase also marks a significant rise over the industrial growth of 2.5 per cent recorded a year before in November 2023.
The growth rate of the manufacturing sector, accounting for more than three-fourths of the index of industrial production, or IIP, accelerated to 5.8 per cent in November 2024 from 4.1 per cent in October.
This bodes well for employment generation, as this sector assumes an important place in creating high-quality jobs for the young graduates passing out from the engineering institutes and universities of the country.
Within the manufacturing sector, 18 out of 23 industry groups have recorded positive growth in November this year over November 2023.
The top three positive contributors for the month of November 2024 are "Manufacture of basic metals" (7.6 per cent), "Manufacture of electrical equipment" (37.2 per cent) and "Manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products" (12.0 per cent), the official statement said.
The data also reflected that the output of the electricity and mining sectors of the IIP grew by 1.9 per cent and 4.4 per cent, respectively in November. Electricity sector's performance during the month improved from 0.9 per cent in October.
The use-based classification figures show that the production of capital goods, which are machines used in factories, went up by a robust 9 per cent. This segment reflects the real investment taking place in the economy that has a multiplier effect on the creation of jobs and incomes going ahead.
There was also a double-digit surge of 13.1 per cent in the production of consumer durables such as electronic goods, refrigerators, and TVs during November reflecting the higher consumer demand for these items amid rising incomes.
The industrial growth rate for the April-November period of the current financial year now works out to 4.1 per cent, according to the official figures.
