Factory output growth of the country eased in May 2019 as it rose by 3.1 per cent from a revised growth of 4.32 per cent reported for April 2019, official data showed on Friday.

Even on a year-on-year (YoY) basis, May's industrial production growth of 3.1 per cent was lower than the 3.8 per cent achieved during the corresponding month of the previous fiscal.

"The cumulative growth for the April-May 2019 period over the corresponding period of the previous year stands at 3.7 per cent," the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation said in 'Quick Estimates of Index of Industrial Production' (IIP).

Besides, the output rate of the manufacturing sector rose 2.5 per cent in May from a year-on-year (YoY) rise of 3.6 per cent. On a YoY level, mining production grew 3.2 per cent from a rise of 5.8 per cent and the sub-index of electricity generation was higher by 7.4 per cent from 4.2 per cent.

Among the six use-based classification groups, the output of primary goods, with the highest weightage of 34.04, grew by 2.5 per cent. The output of intermediate goods, which has the second highest weightage, inched up by 0.6 per cent.

Similarly, output of consumer non-durables rose 7.7 per cent, however, consumer durables slipped (-)0.1 per cent.

In addition, output of infrastructure or construction goods increased by 5 .5 per cent, but that of capital goods inched-up by 0.8 per cent. In terms of industries, 12 out of the 23 industry groups in the manufacturing sector have showed positive growth during the month under review as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year.

"The industry group 'Manufacture of wood and products of wood and cork, ex cept furniture; manufacture of articles of straw and plaiting materials' has shown the highest positive growth of 24.8 per cent followed by 15.9 per cen t in 'Manufacture of food products' and 9.4 per cent in 'Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products."

"On the other hand, the industry group 'Manufacture of paper and paper pro ducts' has shown the highest negative growth of (-) 12.2 per cent followed b y (-) 9.9 per cent in 'Manufacture of furniture' and (-) 8.7 per cent in 'manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment'."

On IIP, Aditi Nayar, Principal Economist, ICRA said: "The sequential dip in industrial growth in May 2019 reflects the trend in core sector expansion, which offset the shallower drag from the contraction in auto production, as well as an improvement in growth of non oil merchandise exports."