IIP Contracts 1.1 per cent in August: All You Need To Know

New Delhi, October 11: Among the flurry of indicators coming into the fore there is yet another shocker for the government. Today, the IIP data released by the government for August . What are the key points of data released today? 

Let’s quickly go through it.

• Index of Industrial Production data (IIP) as it is commonly called is an index that tracks manufacturing activity in different sectors of an economy.

• The IIP number measures the industrial production for the period under review, usually a month, as against the reference period.

• IIP is a key economic indicator of the manufacturing sector of the economy.

• The Index of Industrial Production fell by 1.1 per cent in August 2019 over a year ago, compared to an increase of 4.3 per cent in July.

• The Indices of Industrial Production for the Mining, Manufacturing and Electricity sectors for the month of August 2019 stand at 92.1, 129.0 and 165.7 respectively.

• Manufacturing output contracted by 1.2 per cent in August compared to 4.2 per cent growth in the previous month. Mining output was at 0.1 per cent in August against 4.9 per cent last month. Electricity generation contracted by 0.9 per cent compared to 4.8 per cent in July 2019.

• India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the March quarter slowed to a five-year low of 5.8 per cent, down from 6.6 per cent in the December quarter. And subsequently GDP had steeply fallen to 5 per cent which is the lowest in last six years.

• Fifteen out of the twenty three industry groups in the manufacturing sector have shown negative growth during the month of August 2019 as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year.

• To beat the slowdown, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a cut in corporate tax rates in September, bringing it down to 22 per cent from 30 per cent for existing companies, and to 15 per cent from 25 per cent for new manufacturing companies.

• The eight core industries’ output contracted 0.5 per cent in August. In the same month last year, the core industries’ output grew 4.7 per cent.

• Release of the Index for September 2019 will be on Monday, 11 November 2019