From correspondents in Delhi, India, 09:02 PM IST

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the positive growth in the Indian industry will continue in the next few months, but it may fail to compensate for the shortfall in exports.

Manufacturing output rose 6.8 percent during July, as per data released by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) here Friday.

'It will pick up. The trend is that it is picking up,' Mukherjee said at an interactive meeting with the Indian Women's Press Corps.

'Steel is picking, cement, consumers goods industry are picking up. Housing activity has started that will consume more steel and cement and construction materials,' the minister said.

He, however, cautioned this would not be enough to improve the growth rate further. 'There is a possibility, but that is not adequate to compensate in the shortfall in the manufacturing exports.'

According to Mukherjee, unless the demand of exports in industrialised world improves, 'it will be difficult'. He pointed out that Europe, the US and Japan accounted for over 60 percent of India's exports.

Referring to the first quarter 6.1 percent GDP growth as a good sign, the minister warned that the second quarter would not be as good on account of the drought situation.

At the same time, he said he expected growth to pick up again in the third and fourth quarters. 'We expect this year's growth to be 6 percent-plus.'

Despite the drought, Mukherjee did not expect rural consumption to come down significantly because of the national rural employment guarantee scheme.

'Rural spending will be more, not less. Rural people will have some money. Why otherwise is consumer goods sale increasing?' he asked.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)