India's industrial output, which surged 13.8 percent in July from 7.1 percent in the previous month, is an indication of long-term optimism in the country's industry and overall economy, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Friday.

'We do know that there are fluctuations in this sector from month to month. Nevertheless, this figure indicates long-run optimism on the part of Indian industry and this, once again, underlines my own optimism concerning the growth of the Indian economy,' Mukherjee said.

He said the overall growth of GDP in the second quarter of current fiscal was likely to remain lower than the first quarter because of the base effect.

However, the wide fluctuations in the monthly data should be interpreted with caution, he said. 'Though the capital goods production has increased by 63 percent yet, we must not over-interpret this very high figure.'

According to data released, 12 out of the 17 industries, which constitute the IIP, posted a positive growth in July. However, manufacturing sector that constitutes nearly 80 percent of the IIP rose the highest to 15 percent in the month under review, compared to a rise of 7.4 percent in the year-ago period.

-- Indo-Asian News Service

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