New Delhi: India’s industrial activity witnessed a marginal acceleration in February, with the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) expanding by 5.2%. This figure represents a 10-basis-point increase from the January growth rate of 5.1%, which had previously been revised upward from a three-month low. Data released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) indicates that this steady momentum was largely fuelled by a resilient manufacturing sector and a favourable base effect from the previous year.
The manufacturing sector, which commands a dominant 78% weightage in the IIP, recorded a year-on-year growth of 6% in February, up from 5.3% in the preceding month. This performance contributed to a cumulative 5% growth for the first 11 months of the current fiscal year (FY26), outpacing the 4.1% growth seen during the same period in FY25. Despite the year-on-year expansion, the absolute IIP reading softened to 159 in February, down from 169.9 in January.
Sectoral performance remained mixed across the board. While manufacturing surged, electricity generation slowed significantly to a three-month low of 2.3%, dropping from 5.2% in January. Similarly, mining output growth moderated to 3.1% compared to the 4.3% recorded in the prior month. On a use-based level, capital goods emerged as a primary growth engine, soaring to a nine-month high of 12.5%. Infrastructure and construction goods also maintained a robust trajectory with 11.2% growth, while intermediate goods rose by 7.7%.
Consumer segments showed signs of stabilization as the contraction in consumer non-durables narrowed to 0.6% from a 2.3% decline in January. Meanwhile, consumer durables maintained steady growth at 7.3%. However, primary goods faced a slowdown, growing at just 1.8% compared to 3.1% in the previous month.
Within the manufacturing landscape, 14 out of 23 industry groups reported positive movement. The most significant contributors to this uptick included basic metals at 13.2%, motor vehicles at 14.9%, and machinery and equipment at 10.2%. Specific items such as commercial vehicles, agricultural tractors, and steel pipes were instrumental in driving these sub-sectors forward.
Conversely, nine sectors faced a downturn, with tobacco products and wearing apparel recording the steepest contractions at 17% and 16.6% respectively. For the April-February period of FY26, total industrial output growth remains level with the previous year at 4.1%.