Industrial output growth rises to 5.2% in February on strong manufacturing

New Delhi: India’s industrial output growth rose to 5.2% in February, driven by strong performance of the manufacturing sector on the post-festive demand and low base, as per official data released on Monday.

Factory output, measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), had posted a growth of 2.7% in February 2025. In January 2026, it stood at 5.1%.

The manufacturing sector posted a robust growth of 6% year-on-year in February, against 2.8% expansion recorded in the same month last year, National Statistics Office data showed.

“Post-festive demand has remained relatively strong, as average growth during November 2025 to February 2026 at 6.4%, was highest since August-November 2023. This point towards a strong demand, however, the West Asia crisis is expected to change the situation,” said Devendra Pant, Chief Economist, India Ratings and Research.

There have been reports of shortage of LPG forcing certain industries to scale down their production. India receives more than one-third of its remittances from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and if the crisis prolongs for a longer time, it will have an impact on demand and thus industrial production, he added.

Within the manufacturing sector, 14 out of 23 industry groups recorded a positive growth in February 2026 over February 2025. The top three positive contributors for the month of February 2026 are — manufacture of basic metals (13.2%), manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers (14.9%), and manufacture of machinery and equipment (10.2%).

Mining production growth rose to 3.1% in February, from 1.6% recorded in the same month last year. However, it was lower than the 4.3% expansion recorded in January. Power generation growth decelerated on a month-on-month, as well as year-on-year basis. Power generation grew by 2.3% in February, compared to 3.6% expansion in the year-ago period.