India's October industrial output at 3-month high of 3.5% y/y

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India's industrial output rose to a three-month high of 3.5% year-on-year in October, helped by a pickup in consumer durables and garment manufacturing during the festival season, government data showed on Thursday.

The rise was in line with the 3.5% forecast in a Reuters poll of economists and higher than 3.1% growth in the previous month.

Manufacturing output rose 4.1% year-on-year in October compared to a 3.9% growth in the previous month.

Electricity generation grew 2% year-on-year in October compared to a 0.5% rise in September, while mining output gained 0.9% year-on-year, up from a 0.2% growth a month ago, data showed.

Garment manufacturing grew 7.1% year-on-year in October compared to a 0.1% growth in the previous month, helped by a rise in export orders as global retailers increased shipments from India following the political crisis in Bangladesh.

Consumer durables output, which includes household appliances and vehicles, rose 5.9% in October against 6.5% a month ago, while capital goods output rose 3.1% year-on-year in October compared to 3.6% in September.

"There does seem to be the festival effect seen here which should pick up further in November," said Madan Sabnavis, an economist at Bank of Baroda.

India's festival season runs from mid-September to end-November.

In the April-October period, industrial output increased by 4%, compared to a revised 7% growth a year earlier.

"Aided by the favourable base, we anticipate the year-on-year IIP growth to accelerate to a much more palatable 5%-7% in November 2024," said Aditi Nayar, an economist at ICRA.

(Reporting by Nikunj Ohri and Manoj Kumar; Editing by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan and Mrigank Dhaniwala)