[snap]: Indian industrial output up, but underlying growth weak
India’s industrial production grew 2.5 per cent year-on-year this March, against an average forecast of 2.4 per cent in a Bloomberg poll.
The data follows growth of 0.5 per cent in the month of February, a figure that was revised downwards from 0.6 per cent, and comes after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has slashed interest rates three times since the beginning of 2013. Continue reading »
India IP: one month’s good numbers don’t clear the gloom
India’s industrial production increased in January – only the fourth month out of the past ten to see positive growth.
The index of industrial production was up 2.4 per cent year-on-year this January, double the 1.2 per cent rate forecast in the market. But one month’s growth doesn’t mean recovery is imminent.
[snap] India’s industrial output falls
India’s industrial production fell in December, disappointing analysts who were expecting a recovery. This is the sixth month of negative growth in the past nine months. Continue reading »
India: weak industrial output boosts rate cut hopes
The surprise decline in India’s industrial output in November, disclosed in figures published on Friday, was largely due to the Diwali holiday, when many businesses close for days.
Industrial production fell 0.1 per cent in November year-on-year basis, in stark contrast to revised growth of 8.3 per cent in October – when the figure was boosted by the fact that in 2011, Diwali fell in October.
But forget holidays. The real story is that IP has grown in just three of the last eight months. The pressure to cut interest rates is getting stronger. Continue reading »
India industrial production: up with a little help from Diwali
India’s industrial production grew 8.2 percent year-on-year in October, far exceeding analysts’ expectations of 5.1 per cent.
But the figures may be deceptively positive. With the date of Diwali moving to November from October last year, seasonal factors are creating a base effect – which will switch in November, so there could be disappointment to come. Continue reading »
India: double data shock
By Amy Kazmin and Stefan Wagstyl
Indian policy makers had been hoping their economy was bottoming out, and would soon start to show signs of a pick-up.
But data released on Monday shows that India’s industrial production contracted 0.4 per cent in September year-on-year, an unpleasant surprise given widespread expectations of an increase of 2 per cent or more. And to make things worse, the trade deficit hit a record $21bn in October – up from $18bn in September. Continue reading »
Chart of the week: the great Indian GDP growth revision conundrum
If a GDP growth rate is revised down by 2.6 percentage points and nobody notices, does it make a matter? At the end of August, the Indian government quietly revised the GDP growth figures for every quarter except one during the fiscal years ending in March 2009 and March 2010, with nary a press release to show for it.
Chart of the week looks at what’s behind the great Indian GDP revision. Continue reading »
India industry contracts in June
Indian industry continued to disappoint in June, according to data released on Thursday by the ministry of statistics. It doesn’t augur well for the GDP growth print for the quarter ended in June. But those hoping for an interest rate cut will likely need to wait a while longer.
Indian industrial activity contracted 1.8 per cent in June, down from 2.4 per cent growth in May and well below the 1 per cent growth consensus. While there was a base effect (activity grew by 9.5 per cent last June), economists said the data boded ill for the beleaguered Indian economy. For the quarter ended in June, activity contracted 0.1 per cent compared to 6.9 per cent growth during the same period last year. Continue reading »
India industry: cautious optimism after terrible spring
Indian industrial production beat expectations in the month of May, but when the bar is set so low, at 1.8 per cent, the figure is unlikely to be anything to crow about.
The 2.4 per cent growth, according to data from the ministry of statistics on Thursday, has been slightly overshadowed by downward revision for April. Continue reading »
India industry: pointing to a rate cut?
Well, at least it didn’t contract. That’s about the best that could be said about Indian industrial production in April, which grew just 0.1 per cent, according to data released by the ministry of statistics on Tuesday.
Combined with data last month that showed that the economy grew just 5.3 per cent in the quarter ending in March – a 9-year low – the IP figure only bolsters the case for a rate cut at the Reserve Bank of India’s policy review meeting on next week. Continue reading »
India: industrial production plunges, paanwallahs surge
The streets of India’s cities ran red in March, if data released by the ministry of statistics on Friday is to be believed: production of paan masala, the betel nut-based chewing tobacco famous for the red streams of spit it produces in its users, grew by a whopping 665 per cent.
That’s good news for paanwallahs; if only the rest of the economy – not to mention those who wish to walk on clean streets – were so fortunate. Continue reading »
India production: up, down, changed
This month’s data always look better when you drop the numbers from the month before.
India’s industrial output grew by 4.1 per cent in February, which was far below expectations of 6.6 per cent. But that expectation was partly based on a misleading January figure.
In fact, February output was up from a revised 1.1 per cent in January, according to official data released on Thursday. January’s previously published figure was 6.8 per cent – which was described last month as “difficult to digest”. With a 5.7 percentage point revision, that seems an understatement. Continue reading »
Indian industry: don’t wait for a bounce
Indian industrial output growth braked sharply in December to 1.8 per cent, down from 5.9 per cent in November, according to data released Friday.
But the lower than expected output is unlikely to accelerate the Reserve Bank of India’s widely-anticipated April cut to interest rates, economists told beyondbrics. And regardless, any rate cuts won’t do much to revive investment without the kind of meaningful policy reform that the Congress Party-led government has so far been unable to provide. Continue reading »
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