“The overall IIP figures show encouraging signs of recovery and the stimulus packages may be having some impact. It is critical now to sustain this pace of recovery”, observed Mr. Harsh Pati Singhania, President, FICCI. The IIP figures confirm recent FICCI's Business Confidence Survey (BCS) which indicated a turnaround in the mood of business. The BCS had forecast recovery in the coming 6 months.
The Index of Industrial Production show modest growth of 1.4 percent. But some sectors like consumer durables (nearly 17 percent) intermediate good (7.1 percent), basic goods (4.6 percent) grew at a healthy clip.
The areas of concern are consumer non-durables which have shrunk by 10 percent and production of capital goods which declined by 1.3 percent. However, the electricity generation has grown substantially faster at 7.1 percent. Mining sector grew by nearly 4 percent in the month of April.
In this context Mr. Singhania underlined the need for bringing down the lending rates of commercial banks. Even though RBI has revised its policy rates substantially since late last year, the commercial banks have yet to bring down their lending rates commensurately. In this context Mr. Singhania welcomed the initiative taken by the Finance Minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee to persuade banks to bring down the lending rate.
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry