Industrial Production Contracts 10.4% In July

Industrial production in the country shrank 10.4 per cent in July, marking a fourth straight month of decline, government data showed on Friday. That was better than economists' estimates, and also better than a contraction of 16.6 per cent in the previous month. Economists in a poll by news agency Reuters had expected the factory output to plunge 11.5 per cent in July.

Industrial production – or factory output – is gauged by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), which takes into account activity recorded in sectors such as mining, manufacturing and electricity.

In manufacturing, which has the maximum weightage of 11.14 per cent among sectors, industrial output fell 11.1 per cent in July, the data showed.

Similarly, production in mining slumped 13.0 per cent, and dropped 2.5 per cent in power.

Friday's data was in line with the government's view that the country's economy is likely to register a “V-shaped” recovery, with an improvement in performance in the coming quarters, indicated by a pickup in rail freight, power consumption and tax collections.