Industrial Production Contracts 16.7% In March Amid Coronavirus Lockdown

Industrial production for the month of March contracted by 16.7 per cent, according to government data released on Tuesday. The figure comes amid the coronavirus-induced countrywide lockdown, due to which most of the factories and other production units are yet to resume functioning. Meanwhile, industrial production had grown by 2.7 per cent in the same month last year.

According to Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation data, manufacturing sector output fell by 20.6 per cent compared to a growth of 3.1 per cent in the same month a year ago.

Electricity generation fell by 6.8 per cent as against a growth of 2.2 percent in March 2019.

Mining sector output remained flat compared to a growth of 0.8 percent earlier.

The IIP in the last fiscal contracted by 0.7 per cent from 3.8 per cent expansion in the 2018-19.