India April Industrial Production Growth Tops Expectations

(RTTNews) - India's industrial production grew more-than-expected in April, driven by strong manufacturing output, data from the Central Statistics Office showed Friday.

Industrial production rose 4.1 percent year-on-year, exceeding economists' forecast for 1.5 percent growth.

March's production growth was upwardly revised to 2.5 percent from 2.1 percent.

In April, manufacturing output grew 5.1 percent, with 16 out of its 22 sub-sectors showing gains. The 'machinery and equipment' subgroup emerged the leader with 20.6 percent surge in output.

Mining output increased 0.6 percent, production in the electricity sector declined 0.5 percent.

Capital goods production increased 11.1 percent and intermediate goods output rose 3.3 percent.

Production of consumer durables climbed 1.3 percent and that of non-durables surged 4.4 percent. Overall, consumer goods production registered 3.1 percent growth during April.

During the year ended March 2015, industrial production climbed 2.8 percent.

India's manufacturing sector improved at the fastest pace in four months in May driven by stronger expansions in production and new orders, the latest Purchasing Managers' survey showed at the start of this month.

Official data, released late May, showed that economy grew a robust 7.5 percent in the three months to March led by manufacturing that expanded 8.4 percent. However, economists and observers raised doubts regarding the credibility of the data as previous figures underwent sharp revision.