The quick  estimates of India's latest Index of Industrial Production (IIP) have been announced. The IIP acts as a barometer of an economy's manufacturing prowess, and the latest data points that the domestic manufacturing industry is in need of severe attention.

The IIP for the month of August 2019, with base 2011-12 stands at 126.6, a drop of 1.1 percent compared to the same period last year. This is said to be the sharpest decline in the industrial output since February 2013. The cumulative growth for the period April-August 2019 over the corresponding period of the previous year stands at 2.4 percent.

What may be a matter of concern for the automotive industry which has been witnessing a prolonged period of slowdown, is that the latest IIP data reveals that 15 out of the 23 industry groups (as per 2-digit NIC-2008) in the manufacturing sector have shown negative growth during the month of August 2019 as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year.

Interestingly, the industry group ‘Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers’ has shown the highest negative growth of (-) 23.1 percent followed by (-) 21.7 percent in ‘Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c.’ and (-) 18.0 percent in ‘Other manufacturing’.

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