The Signal (weekly highlights)

1. Output of 8 core industries rises by 4.3% in March 2022

The index of eight core industries rose by 4.3 per cent on a year-on-year basis in March 2022. The growth was lower than the six per cent growth registered in the preceding month. Six of the eight core industries reported rise in production, while two reported fall.

The eight core industries reported a 10.4 per cent growth in their output during fiscal year 2021-22. The growth came after a 6.4 per cent contraction in output suffered in 2020-21. The slowdown in growth after a recovering to a four month high in the previous month was largely due to slowdown in crude oil and coal and in some other parts led by supply side disruptions.

2. Non Food credit growth improves to 9.7% in March 2022

Year-on-year growth in outstanding non-food credit disbursed by scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) improved to 9.7 per cent by end March 2022 from eight per cent at the end of February 2022.

Credit offtake by industry grew by 7.1 per cent at end March 2022, faster than the 6.5 per cent growth clocked at end February 2022. The growth in outstanding SCB credit to the services sector also accelerated to 8.9 per cent from 5.6 per cent at end February 2022.

3. 5G spectrum auction likely in early June 2022: Telecom Minister

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is on track to meet its deadlines, and the process to address industry concerns about spectrum pricing is underway.

The telecom regulator has mooted a mega auction plan valued at over Rs 7.5 lakh crore at the base price across multiple bands for radio waves allocated over 30 years. While Trai has reduced spectrum price by about 39 per cent compared to last price, telecom operators have said that the recommended rates are higher than global benchmarks.

4. India’s gold demand falls by 18% in Jan-March 2022

India’s gold demand declined by 18 per cent to 135.5 tonnes during January-March 2022, mainly due to a sharp increase in prices, according to a report ‘Gold Demand trends Q1 2022’ by the World Gold Council (WGC).

Fewer auspicious days coupled with a sharp rise in gold prices meant fewer weddings and a pause in retail demand, with households postponing gold buying in anticipation of a price correction. Total investment demand for gold increased 5 per cent to 41.3 tonnes in the latest March quarter compared to 39.3 tonnes in the same period a year ago.

5. Central government capex rose by 16.5% y-o-y in April Feb

Capital expenditure in key infrastructure segments by the central government rose 16.5 per cent year-on-year during April 2021-February 2022 and 28.7 per cent during the same period in fiscal year 2019-20.

This is around 80.7 per cent of the budgeted estimate for 2021-22. The pace of expenditure picked up in roads, railways, urban development schemes and metro projects while it slowed under the Jal Shakti mission.