Upbeat over pick-up in industrial growth, the Finance Ministry has expressed confidence that with the current trend continuing, the economic growth rate would cross 6 per cent in 2013-14.
“We are happy to see IIP numbers. This is exactly the trend we are hoping. If (the trend) continues, inflation comes down and growth begins to pick up, I am quite confident that growth in the current fiscal would cross the 6 per cent mark,” Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram said.
Showing signs of recovery, the industrial growth has bounced back to 2.5 per cent in March on better performance of manufacturing and power sectors coupled with higher output of capital goods.
Industrial production had seen a contraction of 2.8 per cent in March last year.
For the fiscal 2012-13, the index of industrial production (IIP) recorded a growth of just one per cent compared to a growth of 2.9 per cent in the previous fiscal.
Manufacturing sector, which constitutes over 75 per cent of the index, grew 3.2 per cent in March against a decline in output by 3.6 per cent in the same month of 2012.
However in 2012-13, the growth in output of the key sector remained low at 1.2 per cent against 3 per cent in 2011-12.
Economic growth during 2012-13 slipped to a decade low of 5 per cent. In the current fiscal, the growth is expected to pick up and as per the Economic Survey, it is likely to be in the range of 6.1 to 6.7 per cent.