Manufacturing sector grows at 14%, highest in a decade

New Delhi, May 15 (UNI) The manufacturing sector registered a record growth of 14.1 per cent in March 2007 as compared to 10.1 per cent in the corresponding month last year, the highest in over a decade.

The growth rate has also doubled in 5 years -- from 6 per cent in 2002-03 to a record 12.3 per cent in 2006-07.

''This augurs well for the 11th Plan, which envisages a growth of 12 per cent for the manufacturing sector,'' Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said today.

The sector accounts for about 80 per cent of the country's industrial production.

The industrial production too shot up to 12.9 per cent in March 2007, as compared to 8.9 per cent in March 2006, according to quick estimates released by Central Statistical Organization.

Industrial growth during the last financial year went up by 11.3 per cent as compared to 8.2 per cent registered in the previous year. This is the highest growth of the industrial sector since 1995-96.

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