A deeper dive into the output data at the level of individual items gives us a clearer picture of the problem. The IIP numbers tell us that manufacturing began to recover from October 2020, so I will take the cumulative data from October to January and compare it to the same period in the previous fiscal. This tells us that consumer goods used by the more affluent have grown reasonably well, while those consumed by the less well-off have performed badly.
For instance, the production of water heaters and geysers has increased by 60 percent, electric cooking appliances grew by 43 percent, output of computers increased by 39 percent, electric heaters by 38 percent, washing machines by 31 percent, TV sets by 29 percent, air conditioners by 14 percent, refrigerators by 12 percent and passenger cars by 4 percent. All of these are likely to have been bought by the top 10 percent of Indian households.
On the other hand, gas stove production dropped by 83 percent, plastic tarpaulin output was…