Led by the deterioration in the performance of 13 of the 16 constituent indicators, the year-on-year (YoY) growth in economic activity declined to a 29-month low of 5.3 per cent in August 2024 from 9.8 per cent in July 2024, as measured by the Icra business activity monitor, an index of high-frequency indicators.
The report by Icra has stated that excess rains in August 2024 impacted the mining activity, cooled off power demand and likely weighed on retail footfalls in the month which saw the index contracted by 1 per cent on a sequential basis in August 2024, in contrast with the expansion of 3.2 per cent registered in August 2023.
The performance of auto-related indicators which includes vehicle registrations, passenger vehicle production and two-wheeler production along with the mobility-related indicators exhibited weaker sequential trends in August 2024 as compared to August 2023. The mobility-related indicators include petrol and diesel consumption and domestic airlines’ passenger traffic.
As per the report, only two of the 14 non-financial indicators which include port cargo and rail freight displayed improved month-on-month (MoM) performance in August 2024 compared to August 2023.
As far as the all-India electricity demand is concerned, it contracted by 4.6 per cent on a YoY basis in September 2024 (until 17 September 2024) after registering a decline of 4.9 per cent in August 2024 due to heavy rainfall across the country, as per the report.
As per the data on the Vahan Portal, the average daily vehicle registrations stood around 12 per cent YoY lower than year-ago levels during the period from 1 September to 16 September 2024. Apart from this, the sales of petrol and diesel declined on a YoY basis from 1 to 15 September 2024. Icra has termed the outlook for September weak as the contractions are seen in the indicators.
