Engineering Post Report
The Large-Scale Manufacturing (LSM) sector performance has been most favourable during the first three quarters of last financial year i.e. July-March FY 2021 and witnessed 8.99 per cent growth as compared to 5.1 per cent decline during the same period last year.
Thoughtful timely decisions taken by the federal government to resume the business activities and adoption of smart lockdown boosted the business sentiments and resultantly the national economy gained traction after witnessing a hefty decline in FY 2020 in the wake of pandemic of Corona Virus.
According to the information available from the concerned official quarters, targeted fiscal and monetary incentives accompanied by related support packages duly helped in speeding up the national economy recovery.
Out of 15 sub-sectors of Manufacturing and Mining Sector, nine posted growth during July 2020-March 2021. Textile and Food Beverages and Tobacco, the two top sectors of LSM, grew by 5.9 and 11.7 per cent respectively. Coke and Petroleum Products, Non-Metallic Mineral Products, Automobile and Pharmaceuticals also grew by 12.71, 24.31, 23.38 and 12.57 per cent respectively during the period under report.
The Mining and quarrying sector, however, declined by 6.49 per cent during FY2021 against 8.28 per cent contraction last year. This sector was lagging behind despite huge potential due to inter-connected and cross-cutting issues like poor regulatory framework, insufficient infrastructure at mines sites, outdated technology installed, semi-skilled labour, low financial support and lack of marketing.
During July 2020-March 2021, production of major minerals plunged down such as Coal, Natural Gas and Crude Oil declined by 5.97, 4.70 and 6.72 per cent respectively.
However, some minerals also witnessed positive growth during the period under review such as Chromite 28.28 per cent, Magnesite 6.17 per cent , Rock Salt 5.44 per cent and Iron Ore 26.23 per cent in the country.
