Slowdown woes: Industrial growth falls to 2% in June

New Delhi: India’s industrial growth fell to a three-month low of two per cent in June from seven per cent in the comparable period last year, in yet another sign of the economy losing steam.

Earlier, the growth in six core industries plummeted to 0.2 per cent in June, the lowest since December 2015. 

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) data released on Friday showed that industrial production has been hit mainly on account of poor performance in the mining and manufacturing sectors. 

While the manufacturing sector logged a growth of 1.2 per cent in June from 6.9 in the similar period last year, the growth in the mining sector declined to 1.6 per cent from June, 2018. The slowdown in manufacturing is largely on account of weak consumption and drying up of fresh investment from the private sector. 

Comparatively, a slightly better performance was witnessed in the electricity sector. The sector saw a growth of 8.2 per cent in June from 8.5 last year. Monsoon months result in an increase in power generation from hydro and non-conventional energy sources. 

Earlier, JSW Steel in a statement had said that “Weaker automotive sales volumes and consumer durables sales in recent months is a matter of concern.”

Dropping clear signs of impact of slowdown, the company said “Indian economic activities during the quarter were underpinned by a general lack of credit availability, resulting in muted business sentiments across various consuming sectors”.