The Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, has described the 8.8 per cent increase in industrial output in June this year as "encouraging". If this trend continues, it will give a boost to growth (of the economy), Mr Mukherjee told reporters at Parliament House.
Index of Industrial Production (IIP) recorded 8.8 percent year-on-year increase in June 2011 as compared to 7.5 per cent increase in the same month last year, official data released on Friday showed.
On Iran crude oil payments tangle, Mr Mukherjee said that the issue has been sorted out and that India has already paid the first instalment. He however declined to comment on the details of new payment mechanism, stating that it was "confidential".
The Finance Minister also said that Iran had "never threatened" to stop crude oil supplies to India. India is Iran’s second biggest customer after China. The payment problem for Iran crude oil supplies was triggered in December last year after the Reserve Bank of India scrapped a long-standing regional clearing house mechanism.
Iran had in the last ten days received 1 billion euros (about $ 1.4 billion) from India, an Iranian official had said on Monday.