Winning Bizness Desk
Mumbai.Industrial Production Climbs Up 8 pc in August
The country’s industrial output climbed up by eight per cent in August of this year from 7.4 per cent in the preceding month (July), propelled by a healthy performance in the manufacturing sector, government data showed.
The National Statistics Office (NSO) said that the manufacturing sector expanded nine per cent while a healthy growth of 12.3 per cent was registered in the electricity and gas supply sector.
The government data showed that the mining and quarrying sector, however, declined by 5.6 per cent in August of this year as against a high 15.8 per cent growth in the year-ago period.
The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) in August last year (2025) was 4.7 per cent. The revised estimate for July of this year stood at 7.4 which has been revised upward from the earlier released provisional figure of 6.7 per cent.
A point to note here is that the IIP growth during the April-to-August period of this fiscal (FY 27) stood at 6.7 per cent as compared to a much lesser 4.2 per cent in the year-ago period.
Within the manufacturing sector, 18 out of 23 industry groups have clocked a positive growth in August of this year as compared to the same month last year.
The top three positive contributors for August 2026 are manufacture of ‘motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers’ (25.2 per cent), ‘manufacture of electrical equipment’ (30.9 per cent) and ‘manufacture of other transport equipment’ (25.3 per cent).
As per use-based classification, indices stood at 111.8 for primary goods, 140.7 for capital goods, 131.8 for intermediate goods and 132.5 for infrastructure/construction goods for August of this year.
Further, the indices for consumer durables and consumer non-durables stood at 129.4 and 114.3, respectively.
The corresponding growth rates of IIP as per use-based classification in August of this year over August last year are 3.5 per cent in primary goods, 16.9 per cent in capital goods, 13.7 per cent in intermediate goods, 6.4 per cent in infrastructure/construction goods, 11.1 per cent in consumer durables and 2.1 per cent in consumer non-durables.
Based on use-based classification, the top three positive contributors to the growth of IIP for August 2026 are intermediate goods, capital goods and consumer goods.
El Nino Threatens Rabi Crops in Rain-fed Areas, Says Agriculture Secy
The coming rabi season could be challenging for rain-fed areas due to the El Nino weather pattern and consequently, foodgrain production could be adversely affected, the country’s Agriculture Secretary Mr Atish Chandra said.
The kharif season was also very challenging, particularly in rain-fed areas, he said, adding that several states struggled first to achieve crop coverage and later to ensure that the crops survived.
Mr Chandra was addressing a national conference on preparedness for the rabi season.
The sowing of rabi crops such as wheat and mustard normally begins this month (October).
“We are seeing that in the coming season, production is likely to be affected to a large extent. And the rabi season will also be challenging for the rain-fed areas,” he said.
Pointing out that strategies need to be calibrated accordingly for the rabi season, the Agriculture Secretary said that some states could face the problem of excess soil moisture, while areas with deficient rainfall may see prolonged periods of stress.
Climate change had become a reality, Mr Chandra said, adding that even irrigated areas had seen untimely and heavy rains in many places hurting crops.
While the country has attained self-reliance in cereals, it continued to import pulses, oilseeds and some horticulture produce such as fruits, the Agriculture Secretary said.
Rabi crops are usually grown in a total area of 638-lakh hectares and wheat alone is sown in 300-lakh-plus hectares.
Pulses are sown on 140-lakh hectares, oilseeds in 87-lakh hectares and coarse cereals in 55-lakh hectares.
Anay Gupta Re-elected AIRIA President
The All India Rubber Industries Association (AIRIA) has unanimously re-elected Mr Anay Gupta as President for the 2026-27 term. This is his second consecutive term in the role.
Associated with the rubber industry for over three-decades, Mr Gupta has played a crucial and active role in the association’s initiatives on industry development, policy advocacy and stakeholder engagement.
Mr Gupta has been a member of AIRIA’s managing committee since 2017 and has previously served as Chairman of AIRIA (Natural Rubber).
He will continue to work with industry stakeholders on key issues affecting the Indian rubber sector including raw materials availability, industry competitiveness, evolving trade dynamics and the growth of the MSME segment, a press release issued stated.
Crisil Raises FY 27 GDP Growth Forecast to 7 pc
Domestic rating agency Crisil has raised its FY 27 GDP growth estimate for the country to seven per cent from its earlier 6.6 per cent on expectations of a healthy growth in the April-to-September period of this fiscal.
The first-quarter (Q1) growth this fiscal was at a very encouraging 7.8 per cent and there are expectations of a strong growth in the first-half (April-to-September six-month period) of this financial year as well.
“The economy is doing strong. We expect the first-half to witness fast growth while growth will slow down in the second-half,” Crisil’s chief economist Mr D K Joshi told journalists recently.
While making its growth projections, Crisil is assuming crude oil to average between USD 87-USD 93 per barrel in FY 27 as against the USD 70 in the last fiscal (FY 26).
Another important factor is the monsoon which is presently at 12 per cent below the long-term averages and is likely to impact the winter crop output as well.
The reservoir levels and soil moisture levels will impact the rabi or winter crop which can have an impact on economic growth as well.
On the currency front, Mr Joshi said that the Rupee is undervalued and is likely to appreciate to 93.5 against the US dollar by March of next year (2027).
According to the senior Crisil official, the previous currency depreciation episodes have shown that the currency strengthened after being under pressure.
There was a need to look at skilling to make the growth process much stronger, Mr Joshi said, emphasising that while artificial intelligence can automate some work, it can also create new jobs like previous technological revolutions.
Adani Group Commits Rs 6-trillion Investment in Maharashtra
The blue-riband Indian conglomerate, the Adani Group has committed an over Rs 6-trillion investment in Maharashtra across energy, aviation and aero-districts, urban re-generation, data centres and coal gasification.
This comes even as the group’s Rs 2.6-trillion worth of projects are under various stages of development.
“Our partnership with Maharashtra spans decades, but our recent commitments of investing over Rs 6-trillion in the state reflects a quantum leap in nature, scale and conviction,” said Mr Pranav Adani.
He is the son of Mr Vinod Adani, elder brother of Mr Gautam Adani; he is also a director of Adani Enterprises.
The senior Adani Group official said that the group’s recent commitments to the state represent a “quantum leap” in scale and conviction, with the Mumbai Metropolitan Region expected to play a central role in Maharashtra’s economic expansion.
