New Delhi: Led by a strong recovery in the manufacturing sector, the industry registered an impressive growth of 7.9 per cent during August 2004 against 5.7 per cent in the same month last year.

The cumulative growth of industry in the first five months of 2004-05 also stood at 7.9 per cent against 5.9 per cent in the corresponding period the previous year, according to the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) figures released today (Oct 12, 2004) by Government.

The manufacturing sector, which accounts for over one-third weightage in the IIP, grew by 8.2 per cent in August this year compared to 6.7 per cent last year.

The cumulative growth in April-August 2004 also stood at 8.2 per cent over 6.5 per cent in the year-ago period.

August 2004 witnessed a strong performance across-the-board, with manufacturing sector growing by 8.2 per cent, electricity by 7.1 per cent and mining 4.7 per cent.

Electricity sector had clocked a meagre 1.2 per cent growth during the corresponding month last year.

During the first five months of the fiscal, the sector witnessed a 7.7 per cent growth over 2.5 per cent in the year-ago period.

Mining sector also recorded a strong growth of 4.7 per cent during the month under consideration over 1.3 per cent, and the cumulative growth stood at 5.2 per cent compared to 4.1 per cent last year.