Industrial production shrinks by 1.1 pc in August; poorest performance in 7 years
New Delhi, Oct 11: Signs of slowdown became more pronounced as the government data on Friday revealed factory output shrank by 1.1 per cent in August, recording the poorest performance in seven years due to a sharp decline in production of capital goods and consumer durable.
Industrial production growth for the first time in more than two years has treaded into negative territory.
The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) had shown a growth of 4.8 per cent in August 2018. The previous low in IIP was (-) 1.7 per cent in November 2012.
The manufacturing sector, which contributes over 77 per cent to the IIP, contracted by 1.2 per cent, the lowest in five years, as against a growth of 5.2 per cent in the year-ago month, according to the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO).
The previous low in the manufacturing segment was recorded at (-) 1.8 per cent in October 2014.
The data revealed that electricity generation growth too was in negative at (-) 0.9 per cent as against an expansion of 7.6 per cent in the year-ago month while the mining sector growth was flat at 0.1 per cent.
Earlier this month, the RBI revised downwards its GDP growth forecast for the current fiscal to 6.1 per cent from the previous estimate of 6.9 per cent after the first-quarter economic growth slipped to over six-year low of 5 per cent.
Providing further details of the IIP, the NSO data showed the worst performance came from the capital goods segment as its output shrank by over 21 per cent as against an expansion of 10.3 per cent in August last year.
Consumer durables output too declined by 9.1 per cent in August 2019 as against 5.5 per cent growth in the same month of 2018.
Another poor performing segment was infrastructure/ construction goods. It showed a decline of 4.5 per cent in August 2019 as against a growth of 8 per cent in the corresponding month of last year.
'Intermediate goods' sector, however, showed a healthy growth of 7 per cent, up from 2.9 per cent in the year-ago month. Consumer non-durables segment posted an expansion of 4.1 per cent in August. This compares with 6.5 per cent expansion in August 2018.
In terms of industries, 15 out of the 23 industry groups in the manufacturing sector have shown negative growth during August 2019 as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year.
Commenting on the IIP numbers, K Joseph Thomas, Head Research, Emkay Wealth Management said the data amply reflects the underlying weakness in manufacturing and industrial activity which needs to be addressed without much loss of time for economic recovery.
Aditi Nayar, Vice President, Principal Economist there is a growing likelihood that the GDP growth may not meaningfully accelerate in the second quarter of the current fiscal from the multi-quarter low 5 per cent recorded in April-June quarter, despite a favourable base effect.
The extent of pickup in consumption in the festive months and crop production in the rabi season will signal whether a material turnaround in demand and economic growth are in the offing, she said.
Moody's Investors Service on Thursday slashed its 2019-20 GDP growth forecast for India to 5.8 per cent from 6.2 per cent earlier, saying the economy was experiencing a pronounced slowdown.
Meanwhile, the NSO revised upwards the IIP growth for July to 4.6 per cent from the earlier estimate of 4.3 per cent.
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Congress Corporator's daughter stabbed to death inside college campus in Hubballi
Hubballi (Karnataka), Apr 18: The daughter of a Congress Corporator was stabbed to death by her acquaintance inside BVB college campus here on Thursday after she allegedly rejected his proposal, police said.
The deceased Neha (23), the daughter of Niranjan Hiremath, was a first-year MCA student, they said.
The accused 23-year-old Fayaz, an MCA dropout, has been arrested in connection with the incident, police said, adding that both of them were batchmates during their BCA course.
The entire incident was caught on CCTV camera.
According to the police, Fayaz went inside the college campus with a knife and stabbed Neha five-six times. During the attack, he too sustained injuries and was shifted to the hospital along with the victim. At the hospital, Neha was declared brought dead.
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"During interrogation, he (Fayaz) claimed that the two of them had been in a relationship and that she had suddenly started avoiding him. It needs to be corroborated and verified, but he was arrested immediately," a senior police officer said.
A case of murder has been registered, police said, adding that further investigation is underway.
Narrating about the incident, Neha's father Hiremath said that his daughter had classes from 8 am. At around 4.30 pm, when she stepped out after completing her classes, this person approached towards her and stabbed her nearly six times inside the college campus and she died on the spot.
"He (the accused) was an old student and he had proposed my daughter but she rejected his proposal. She did not like him and she usually stayed away from all this...She refused him saying they both belonged to different caste and that she did not wish to have any relationship with him. Out of anger, he stabbed my daughter," he told PTI videos.
Demanding justice for her daughter, he said that the accused should he hanged to death only then will his daughter's soul rest in peace.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah condemned the incident and offered condolences to the family of the deceased.
"An accused has already been arrested in connection with the incident and I have instructed the Director General of Police to conduct a strict investigation and take action to ensure maximum punishment for the accused," he said in a post on 'X'.
He also appealed to people to not take law into their hands.
"In connection with the incident, no one should get agitated and take law into their hands or attempt to disturb peace of the society. It is our duty to get justice for the death of the young woman, in this regard the police department will work hard," he added.
