India's industrial growth rebounds to 6.8 pc in January 2012

New Delhi, Mar 12 (PTI) Showing signs of recovery, India's industrial production gathered pace and grew 6.8 per cent in January 2012, year on year, mainly due to improvement in the manufacturing sector. Industrial growth, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), had been recorded at 2.5 per cent (revised from 1.8 per cent) in December 2011. Growth in factory output growth in January 2011 was at 7.5 per cent. Output of the manufacturing sector, which constitutes over 75 per cent of the index, rose 8.5 per cent in January, compared to 8.1 per cent in the same month last year, according to the official data released today. Mining output contracted by 2.7 per cent in January, against 1.7 per cent growth in the year ago period. Power generation witnessed a slower growth of 3.2 per cent in January, compared to 10.5 per cent in the year ago period. During the April-January period of the current 2011-12 fiscal, the IIP growth stood at 4 per cent, as against 8.3 per cent in same period in 2010-11. The overall slow growth of IIP at 4 per cent during the April-January period, may prompt the counry's central bank RBI to cut short term lending and borrowing rates in the mid-quarterly review of the monetary policy on Thursday, especially in view of the easing inflation, experts said. Industry officials have blamed the slowdown in growth to the high interest rate regime that has made borrowings costly and curbed consumer spending. PTI