Encouraged by the industrial production growth rate of 10.8 per cent in October, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday sounded confident the trend would continue and the financial year would end with double-digit growth rate.
"This (Industrial Production number) is quite encouraging. I hope this trend will continue and double-digit growth in industry would be possible," Mukherjee said here.
Expressing satisfaction over cumulative IIP growth rate of 10.3 per cent during April-October, the minister said: "The trend is encouraging, all the three important sectors - industry, agriculture and services - are evenly growing, and making the contribution to GDP, which is a healthy sign."
The index of industrial production (IIP) grew 6.9 per cent during April-October last financial year.
The industrial growth, which had slipped to 2.8 per cent in 2008-09 following global financial meltdown, rose to 10.4 per cent in 2009-10, mainly on account of stimulus measures provided by the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
In the current financial year, the IIP recorded an increase of 15.08 per cent in July. However, it slipped to 6.91 per cent growth in August and 4.4 per cent in September.
The IIP growth in September, Mukherjee said, was an aberration, as in earlier months the industrial production index was quite satisfactory.
The industrial output in October, which registered double-digit growth after two months, rose on back of healthy performance of sectors such as automobile, electronic goods and power. This is in comparison to growth rate of 10.1 per cent in October last year.
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