March industrial production contracts 16.7%

India's industrial output contracts to 16.7 percent in March against a growth of 4.5 percent in February, as per the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data released by the government on May 12.

The manufacturing sector contracted 20.6 percent in March, against a growth of 3.2 percent a month ago. Mining showed no movement in March while electricity production contracted 6.8 percent against a growth of 8.1 percent in February.

Primary goods contracted 3.1 percent in March against 7.4 percent in February. Capital goods production in March contracted 35.6 percent against a contraction of 9.7 percent a month ago.

Consumer durables contracted 33.1 percent in March against a contraction of 6.4 percent in February.

The numbers come just as India's industrial production data was showing signs of revival right before the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.

The outbreak of COVID-19 and ensuing lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to control the spread, led to huge disruption in activity across sectors. Small and medium scale businesses saw massive disruption with factories being shut down. Aviation, hospitality and tourism are some of the worst-affected sectors in the economy.

According to government data, India's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 4.7 percent in the October-December quarter of 2019-20. GDP growth came in at 5.6 percent in the corresponding quarter of 2018-19.

Government data projected that the manufacturing sector saw a contraction of 0.2 percent in 2019-20 against -0.1 percent in Q2, while mining and quarrying would grow at 3.2 percent against 0.1 percent in the last quarter.