Manufacturing growth target to be met, monitoring rupee appreciation

New Delhi, Sep 13 (UNI) Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath today said Government is monitoring the growing appreciation of rupee to ensure that it did not adversely impact exports and exuded confidence that 12 per cent growth target of manufacturing sector for the current fiscal would be achieved.

The Minister was making comment on the growth rate of the manufacturing sector in view of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data released yesterday.

The official data showed the manufacturing growth was only 7.2 per cent in July this year against 14.3 per cent in corresponding month previous year.

''We are continuously looking at the efforts so that exports do not decline as it forms the important part of country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth,'' Mr Nath said on the sidelines of the annual general meeting of Export Promotion Council for EOUs and SEZ Units.

Mr Nath added that, ''we will meet the target of 12 per cent manufacturing growth in 2007-08.'' The slowdown in the industrial growth is not much and does not need any structural changes, said Mr Nath adding, the contraction of credit has declined the consumer durable demand.

The country's industrial growth took a dip in July with the overall growth of the IIP slipping sharply to 7.1 per cent as against 13.2 per cent in July last year.

The July 2007 performance was lower even when compared to June 2007 when the IIP registered a 9.8 per cent growth, slightly higher than 9.7 per cent recorded in June 2006.

''With the contraction of credit, we have achieved the desired results to contain the inflation,'' Mr Nath said but at the cost of a negative impact on the industrial growth.

UNI