Industrial activitiy in the economy continues to be on the upswing as indicated by the General Index of Industrial Production, which stood at 232.8 for the period April to August in 2006-07, registering a growth of 10.6% as against 8.7% in the corresponding period of the last fiscal. The improvement in industrial activity was mainly due to the acceleration in manufacturing growth from 9.6% during April to August 205-06 to 11.8% during the same period in 2006-07.

The annual rate of inflation for the week ended 21st October 2006 (over 22nd October 2005), calculated on point-to-point basis stood at 5.41% (provisional) as compared to 5.26% (provisional) for the previous week. The annual rate of inflation stood at 4.49% as on 22nd October 2005 i.e. a year ago.

On the external front, while exports during the period April to September of 2006-07 totaled US$ 59325.42 million and marked an increase of 37.25%, imports during the same period totaled US$ 83926.76 million and grew by a strong 32.06% over the corresponding period last year. The surge in imports resulted in the trade deficit during April to September of 2006-07 widening to US$ 24601.34 million, which is higher that last year's corresponding figure of US$ 20326.83 million.

The economy received US$ 7.7 billion as foreign direct investments in 2005-06, while portfolio investments stood at US$ 12.5 billion. Foreign direct investments during the first four months of the fiscal 2006-07 stood at US$ 3.4 billion. The country's foreign exchange reserves stood at a record US$ 167 billion as on October 27, 2006. The month of October also saw the sensex soaring above the 13000 mark.