Industrial production (IIP) contracted 3.6 percent in February, according to government data.

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According to the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), manufacturing sector output declined by 3.7 percent in February 2021.

Mining output slipped 5.5 percent, while power generation grew by 0.1 per cent in February. The IIP had grown by 5.2 percent in February 2020.

During April-February, IIP contracted by 11.3 percent compared to one per cent growth in the corresponding period of 2019-20. Industrial production has been hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic since March last year when it contracted by 18.7 percent.

Meanwhile, Consumer Price Index-based inflation (CPI) rose to 5.52 percent in the month of March, the data said. The retail inflation during the month of February was at 5.03 percent.

The rate of price rise in the food basket accelerated to 4.94 percent in March, as against 3.87 percent in the preceding month, as per data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO). Inflation in 'fuel and light' category was 4.50 percent during the month vis-a-vis 3.53 percent in February.

Earlier this month, the Reserve Bank of India had projected the retail inflation at 5 percent in the January-March quarter of 2020-21 and 5.2 percent in the first two-quarters of the current fiscal. After breaching the upper tolerance threshold of 6 percent for six consecutive months (June-November 2020), CPI inflation fell in December 2020 and eased further in January 2021 to 4.1 percent on the back of a sharp correction in vegetable prices and softening of cereal prices. However, it rebounded to 5 percent in February, driven primarily by base effects.

The Reserve Bank, which mainly factors in the retail inflation while arriving at its monetary policy, has been asked to keep CPI inflation at 4 percent with a margin of 2 percent on either side. The central bank retained the key lending rate (repo) in its last monetary policy citing inflationary concerns.

(With PTI inputs)

(Edited by : Aditi Gautam)

First Published:Apr 12, 2021 5:56 PM IST