BANGALORE – India now has another chapter to add to its book of records. Events like Rupee hitting record low, slowdown of the economy, the rising debt of India and the untameable inflation have already made their presence in the book. Joining them in the Index is the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) numbers which hit 5.1 percent record low since June 2009. All of these have made it into list by making a milestone with their negative numbers. As a result, it seems the crisis-hit India is in no position to infuse confidence that will boost the falling economy. Looks like India just opened Pandora’s Box of troubles. Or is 2011 signifying the advent of change in India?
The index of industrial production, or IIP, which measures the growth in output from various sectors of the economy like mining, manufacturing and electricity, weighed in at 5.1 percent for the month, the first time since June 2009 that industrial production has entered negative territory compared to 1.9 percent in September and 11.3 percent in October 2010. The fall was driven by a 6 percent fall in manufacturing and a fall of 7.2 percent in mining, as estimated by Deutsche Bank.
Inflation, economy, rupee and debt numbers may sound all jeebrish. And so will the IIP numbers degrading. Here is a brief way to explain how the IIP figures is a big disappointing number and what those numbers really mean for you.
IIP is directly related to the manufacturing and mining numbers which forms the pivotal sectors of the Indian economy. The low numbers strike an imbalance between demand and orders in these industries. As orders go down, companies have to invest less and that means less manpower requirement, which mean less hiring has to be done. If you are a graduate in mechanical or hold expertise in industrial sector then you will see a dip in the job openings in these sectors. Economic experts say the manufacturing sector is likely to see job losses also.
