Riding high on robust domestic demand, several manufacturing firms registered high growth in the first quarter of the current financial year Coming as good news for the Indian manufacturing sector, a majority of the segments falling within this sector continued to maintain growth momentum during the first quarter of 2010-11, revealed a survey conducted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and ASCON. The number of industries recording a growth of over 27% touched 30, as compared to 10 industries that recorded 9% growth during the same period in the last financial year, stated the survey that was conducted among 110 firms.
 Commenting on the outcome of the survey, B Muthuraman, vice president of CII and chairman of CII Associations’ Council, opines, “A more conducive environment needs to be created for the industry to perform better.”Robust domestic demand facilitating growth
Experts believe increasing demand for indigenous goods within the country has helped manufacturing firms register such robust growth in the first quarter of 2010-11. In this context, Manoj Jain, managing director of Hamilton Electronics Pvt Ltd, a mid-sized manufacturer of magnetic switches in New Delhi, says, “With increase in purchasing power of consumers, sales of products such as automobiles, mobile phones etc has picked up. Moreover, gradual upswing in the exports of Indian goods in the last few months has also aided growth of the manufacturing sector.” Mr Jain however identified inflation and consequently the Reserve Bank of India’s formulation of tight monetary policy to control inflation as key hindrances in the growth of the sector.
Air-conditioners, automobile, machine tools, electric meters, electric fans etc are some industries that have recorded high growth. It is to be noted that the demand in the auto sector has risen so much that several auto makers are finding it difficult match up to such high demand. It is anticipated that announcement of the National Manufacturing Policy, implementation of Goods and Service Tax (GST) and creation of national manufacturing investment zones (NMIZs) will further fuel the growth of the Indian manufacturing sector.
Arup Choudhury |
