No slowdown in Indian manufacturing sector

New Delhi, Aug 5: ASCON survey by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for the period April - June 2007 shows most industry sectors recording a growth of more than 10 per cent, belying fears of a slowdown of the manufacturing sector.

Out of a total of 101 sectors reporting production, 23 sectors recorded an excellent growth rate of more than 20 per cent, 27 sectors recorded a high growth rate of 10-20 per cent, 36 sectors registered moderate growth rate of 0-10 per cent while 14 sectors reported negative growth.

The percentage of sectors in each category remained almost constant over the period April 2006 to March 2007, which reaffirms that Indian manufacturing is on track.

While releasing the CII ASCON Survey, Satish Kaura, Chairman, CII Industry Council, said ''It is good to see that 50 per cent of the manufacturing sectors have shown above moderate growth despite various pressures in terms of the appreciating rupee and hardening interest rates.'' Dr Sarita Nagpal, Deputy Director General, CII while agreeing that the manufacturing sector seemed on track, added a word of caution pointing to the fact that some sectors had moved from the high growth to the moderate growth sector as compared to full last year performance of the industry.

''These could be weak signals of a slow down and we must not ignore them,'' she added.

According to the survey cold rolled steel strips, pig iron, textile machinery, industrial gases, electric fans, microwave ovens to name few are in the excellent growth category.

One of the new entrants to the excellent growth category is electric two wheelers in the auto sector showing growth of over 100 per cent.

Energy meters, abrasives, industrial valves, machine tools, water equipment, air conditioners, and vanaspati were all in the high growth category.

According to the survey, out of the 27 sectors reporting sales, six sectors registered excellent growth, 11 sectors registered high growth, four sectors reported moderate growth and four sector recorded negative growth.

According to Mr Kaura the survey has revealed that cold rolled steel strips, sponge iron, textile machinery, water equipment, tractors, electric fans, and electric two wheelers are some sectors in the excellent sales growth category.

While the high growth category included Ceramics, Forgings, Industrial Valves, scooters and cars etc.

The survey said four sectors have shown excellent growth in exports. There were eight sectors in the high growth category, five sectors recorded moderate growth, while 9 sectors registered a fall in exports.

All Three Wheelers and Motor Cycles are sectors that have done well on the export front, registering excellent growth. Those in the high growth category include Ball&Roller Bearings, Forgings, Industrial Valves, Machine Tools, Water Equipment and Electric Fans.

UNI