NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India's industrial output rose to a three-month high of 3.5% year-on-year in October, helped by a pickup in consumer durables and garment manufacturing during the festival season, government data showed on Thursday.
The rise was in line with the 3.5% forecast in a Reuters poll of economists and higher than 3.1% growth in the previous month.
Manufacturing output rose 4.1% year-on-year in October compared to a 3.9% growth in the previous month.
Electricity generation grew 2% year-on-year in October compared to a 0.5% rise in September, while mining output gained 0.9% year-on-year, up from a 0.2% growth a month ago, data showed.
Garment manufacturing grew 7.1% year-on-year in October compared to a 0.1% growth in the previous month, helped by a rise in export orders as global retailers increased shipments from India following the political crisis in Bangladesh.
Consumer durables output, which includes household appliances and vehicles, rose 5.9% in October against 6.5% a month ago, while capital goods output rose 3.1% year-on-year in October compared to 3.6% in September.
"There does seem to be the festival effect seen here which should pick up further in November," said Madan Sabnavis, an economist at Bank of Baroda (NS: BOB ).
India's festival season runs from mid-September to end-November.
In the April-October period, industrial output increased by 4%, compared to a revised 7% growth a year earlier.
"Aided by the favourable base, we anticipate the year-on-year IIP growth to accelerate to a much more palatable 5%-7% in November 2024," said Aditi Nayar, an economist at ICRA.