With India in the grip of a heatwave in May, power generation hit a record high (13.7%) even as production of consumer durables such as air-conditioners and refrigerators jumped 12.3% to touch the second-highest level in at least 14 months, pushing industrial output growth to a seven-month high of 5.9% in May
The two segments bolstered the recovery from a three-month low growth of 5% in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) in April, even as manufacturing growth remained underwhelming at 4.6% and half the use-based segments witnessed growth deceleration from April
Within manufacturing, which constitutes 77.6% of the IIP, six of 23 sectors reported contractions, the same number as April.
Food products (-5.5%), textiles (-0.7%), chemicals (-0.5%), rubber and plastic (-0.9%), and other manufacturing (-8.6%), were among the sectors that recorded a downturn
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