Factory output likely grew 1 per cent in January: NDTV poll

India's industrial production likely rose 1 per cent in January from a year earlier, after unexpectedly shrinking 0.6 per cent in December, thanks to a pick-up in domestic demand and infrastructure output at a three-month high, an NDTV Profit poll has showed.

Poll participants include Nomura (2.2 per cent), Barclays (1 per cent), Axis Bank (0.6 per cent), CARE (2.8 per cent), Credit Suisse (1.5 per cent), Deutsche Bank (2 per cent), HSBC (0.2 per cent), Moody's Analytics (1.5 per cent), RBS (0.3 per cent), Standard Chartered (-0.3 per cent), UBS (-0.7 per cent), and Yes Bank (1.1 per cent).

Output in the country's eight key infrastructure industries, also known as the core sector and accounting for almost 40 per cent of factory production, grew an annual 3.9 per cent in January, its fastest in three months.

Production in four of those eight industries - coal, steel, electricity and refinery products, which account for a little over a fourth of the IIP - rose in January and likely had a bearing on overall industrial production.

HSBC manufacturing PMI surveys also showed domestic orders have boosted Indian factory activity so far this year. However, weak global demand has hurt exports.

Renewed concerns about the euro zone sovereign debt crisis, fueled by an inconclusive Italian election, have also slowed India's economic progress.

The euro zone, India's largest trading partner, has been ravaged by a three-year old sovereign debt crisis that has threatened to push the global economy into a new downturn.

To support growth, the Indian government unveiled a surge in spending - despite expectations of an austere budget to shore up its finances - and imposed new taxes on the rich and large companies.

The Reserve Bank of India had cut its key policy rate for the first time in nine months in January but said any further policy easing would depend on how inflation and the fiscal deficit is controlled.

With inputs from Reuters