The key question is how much of the latest growth record represents recovery from the 2020-2021 downturn, and what is the sustainable growth rate now, asks T N Ninan.
India's home-grown EV startups say the government's auto PLI scheme is helping big players while shutting out innovators building electric two- and three-wheelers from scratch.
The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) grew by 1.4 per cent in November as most components like manufacturing, electricity, mining, primary goods, and consumer durables witnessed a slowdown, according to data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Wednesday. This is on the base of a decline of 1.7 per cent in November 2020 and before the new Covid variant started impacting economic activity. IIP growth was lower than the 4 per cent expansion recorded in the previous month but was better than a 1.6 per cent contraction seen in November 2020. Separately, rising prices of kitchen staples pushed retail inflation, or rate of price increase, to 5.59 per cent in December 2021, bringing it close to the upper band of Reserve Bank's comfort zone.
The manufacturing sector, which accounts for over 75 per cent of the total weight of the index, grew by just 5.6 per cent in May.
The Beijing summit may have reduced immediate diplomatic uncertainty, but it did not resolve the deeper structural contest between the United States and China. That contest appears likely to define the coming decade, notes Varun Arya.
India's manufacturing sector activity witnessed the weakest improvement in the sector in two years in December on account of softer expansions in new orders, prompting firms to limit input purchases and job creation, a monthly survey said on Friday. The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) -- an indicator of sector performance -- fell from 56.6 in November to 55 in December.
India's rapidly ageing truck fleet, with 42% of vehicles over 12 years old, is set to trigger a replacement-driven growth of 3-5% annually over the next five years.
India's industrial production growth slowed marginally to 4.9 per cent month-on-month in March 2024, mainly due to poor show by the mining sector, according to official data released on Friday. The factory output growth, measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), was 5.6 per cent in February 2024. However, it was 1.9 per cent in March 2023.
India's economy is projected to maintain growth above 7 per cent in 2026-27 (FY27), supported by strong domestic consumption and investment, even as global growth faces risks from geopolitical tensions, according to industry body Assocham.
After a record-breaking year, India's automobile industry is entering 2026 on a relatively strong footing, with sales growth expected in the 6-8 per cent range. The outlook is underpinned by policy support, including GST rationalisation, easing monetary conditions, and income tax relief, which together are likely to improve affordability and sustain consumer demand across vehicle segments.
Capital goods output rose by a robust 20 per cent in the month under review as against a contraction of 2.4 per cent earlier.
'We are targeting a 2.5x to 3x increase in valuation by FY31.'
The growth of eight infrastructure industries slowed down to 3.1 per cent in July, against 4.5 per cent in the same month last year, mainly due to contraction in crude oil and natural gas production.
During April-May, growth in the eight core industries slowed to 3.3 per cent as against 4.9 per cent in the year-ago period.
Apple CEO Tim Cook's strategic pivot, from initial rejections to local partnerships and leveraging government policies like PLI, transformed India into a major iPhone manufacturing and export hub, now accounting for one in every four iPhones assembled globally.
Bajaj Auto is planning a slow, calibrated push to take the Chetak, its electric scooter, to more than 100 countries on the strength of its distributor network and market-specific localisation rather than an aggressive global rollout, reports Sohini Das.
'The real risk is not that AI will fail to transform India's economy.'
'The risk is that it already is -- while our measurement systems continue to look the other way,' observes Nishant Sahdev, a theoretical physicist at the University of North Carolina.
India's economic growth slowed to 7 per cent in the three months through June from 7.5 per cent in the previous quarter
If TVK MLAs and ministers are perceived as clean, or demonstrably cleaner than their predecessors, the credibility dividend will be enormous. The voter will feel rewarded, points out Ramesh Menon.
Inflation in India probably edged up in October as food prices climbed while weak demand is expected to have hurt factory output growth.
With natural gas and cement showing decline in production, the growth of eight core infrastructure industries slowed down to 5.3 per cent in May against 7.4 per cent a year ago.
The core industries that also include coal, electricity, cement, petroleum refinery products and finished steel, and carry 37.9 per cent weight in the Index of Industrial Production, had grown by 5.8 per cent in May last year.
Industrial production grows at 2.1 per cent in March.
The output of eight key infrastructure sectors slowed down to a five-month low of 2.9 per cent in February, as against 7.1 per cent growth registered a year ago, according to official data released on Friday. On a monthly basis, the production growth of the core sectors was lower than the 5.1 per cent expansion recorded in January.
Vivek Mahajan (Head - Research) Aditya Birla Money, analysed the slow IIP growth.
The growth rate of eight infrastructure sectors of coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity was 5.7 per cent in January 2016.
Less than half of all graduates were employed, with 48.8 per cent reporting some form of work.
Recent years have been turbulent for the insurance industry due to direct and indirect tax reforms, regulatory overhaul and other external pressures. The events cumulatively slowed growth rate to single digits from the high teens seen earlier.
Tracking a sharp drop in industrial growth, six core infrastructure industries expanded by a disappointing six per cent in September as against 10.6 per cent a year ago. The growth for the April-September period of 2007-08 also dropped to 6.6 per cent from 8.7 per cent in the comparable period of the previous year.
'At the first sign of real trouble, that money will move. There will be a run.'
Industrial production was seen growing 1.8 per cent from a year earlier in July, slower than June's 3.4 per cent increase, according to the median consensus in a poll of 31 economists.
The growth of six core infrastructure industries eased to 1.8 per cent in July, the lowest this fiscal, as petroleum refinery acted as a drag on the sector.
'We kept this Budget on a larger plank, rather than on one incident, however serious.'
The growth of eight core sectors slowed down to 2.6 per cent in August mainly due to contraction in steel output.
'Despite a challenging FMCG environment, ITC Foods has grown at or above the industry rate.'
There are hopes of a turnaround in overall corporate earnings after six quarters of single digit growth.
West Asia conflict triggers sharp sell-off in Indian markets, with realty, banking and auto stocks leading losses amid energy shock fears.
The cost of the war is being counted not in the corridors of power in Washington or Tehran, but in Firozabad's darkened furnace rooms, Howrah's idle casting sheds, and a barbershop in Kochi where the wait is suddenly, inexplicably, an hour long, notes Prem Panicker in his must read blog on the Iran War.
During December 2011, the core sectors recorded a growth of 3.1 per cent against 6.3 per cent same period previous year.
'The West Asia or the Gulf crisis has shown that what we develop as national infrastructure when things are not as bad as they could be, we forget to plan for adversities.'
