NEW DELHI: India’s industrial production jumped in April, beating market forecasts in another positive sign for new Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has pledged to revive the faltering economy, data showed yesterday.
Output grew 3.4 percent year-on-year in April after contracting for the past two months, driven mainly by increases in the manufacturing, mining and power sectors, government data showed.
Manufacturing grew 2.6 percent, while output of capital goods such as plant equipment, a harbinger of future investment, increased 15.7 percent.
“Today’s figures on Indian industry were the most positive in many months,” chief Asia economist Mark Williams from Capital Economics said in a note.
Modi vaulted to power last month after a landslide election victory over the left-leaning and scandal-plagued Congress party, with a promise to reform the sluggish economy growing at under five percent.
The right-wing Modi has pledged to rebuild India’s manufacturing sector, overhaul crumbling infrastructure and bring back foreign investors.
In a boost for the new government, figures released on Wednesday showed India’s exports jumped to a six-month high. AFP
