Preview: India's industrial production likely rose 1.2% in January
Indian factory production in January probably rose from a year earlier after shrinking in December, boosted by a pick-up in domestic demand and infrastructure output at a three-month high, a poll showed.
Index of Industrial Production (IIP), which includes output at factories, mines and utilities, was estimated to have risen an annual 1.2 percent in January after unexpectedly falling 0.6 percent in December, according to this week's poll of 24 economists.
If realised, that consensus would fuel the widely held view that the worst is likely over for flagging Indian factories after industrial output grew in just six months of last year.
"Consumption and investment is picking up, which goes to suggest that from a purely domestic demand standpoint, the bottoming out of activity which many of us have talked about is materialising," said Aninda Mitra, India economist at Capital Economics.
"And in that context, some modest pick-up in industrial activity should not be unexpected," added Mitra, who is expecting significant growth of 3.2 percent.
Output in the country's eight key infrastructure industries , widely known as the core sector and accounting for almost 40 percent of factory production, grew an annual 3.9 percent in January, its fastest in three months.
Production in four of those eight industries - coal, steel, electricity and refinery products, which account for a little over a fourth of the IIP - rose in January and likely had a bearing on overall industrial production.
"Mining and electricity output generation has improved over
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