Industrial production surged by 11.5 per cent in July 2021, mainly due to a low-base effect and good performance by manufacturing, mining and power sectors. But the output remained slightly below the pre-pandemic level. 

The manufacturing sector, which constitutes 77.63 per cent of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), grew by 10.5 per cent in July, according to the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Friday. The mining sector output rose by 19.5 per cent in July, while power generation increased by 11.1 per cent. 

In July 2021, the IIP stood at 131.4 points compared to 117.9 points in the same month last year. The IIP had contracted by 10.5 per cent in July 2020. The index was at 131.8 points in July 2019, according to the NSO data. Industrial production had plunged by 18.7 per cent in March last year, following the COVID outbreak and remained in the negative zone till August 2020. 

With the resumption of economic activities, factory output had risen by 1 per cent in September 2020. It had grown by 4.5 per cent in October 2020. In November 2020, the factory output fell 1.6 per cent and then entered the positive territory again with a 2.2 per cent growth in December 2020. 

The IIP had recorded a contraction of 0.6 per cent in January 2021 and 3.2 per cent in February this year. In March, it grew by 24.2 per cent. For the month of April, the NSO had held back the release of complete IIP data. In May 2021, IIP had grown by 28.6 per cent and in June, it had expanded by 13.6 per cent.