ISLAMABAD: The Large Scale Manufacturing Industries (LSMI) in the country witnessed an impressive 5.6 percent growth during the fiscal year 2016-17 as compared to output of last year. The country’s LSMI Quantum Index Numbers (QIM) was recorded at 139.29 points during July-June (2016-17) against 131.90 points during same period of last year, according to the latest data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). The highest growth of 4.18 percent was witnessed in the indices monitored by Ministry of Industries, followed by 1.22 percent growth in the products monitored by Provincial Bureaus of Statistics (PBOS) and 0.21 growth in the indices of Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC). On year-to-year basis, the industrial growth increased by 3.3 percent during June 2017 as compared to same month of last year, however, on month-to-month basis, the industrial growth decreased by 6.51 percent in June 2017 when compared to growth of May 2017, the PBS data revealed. Meanwhile, the major sectors that showed growth during July-June (2016-17) included textile (0.81 percent), food, beverages and tobacco (11.49 percent), coke and petroleum products (2.79 per cent), pharmaceuticals (9.19 percent), non metallic mineral products (4.44 percent), automobiles (11.22 percent), iron and steel products (20.48 percent), fertilizers (1.66 percent), electronics (17.02 percent), paper and board (7.18 percent) and engineering products (4.00 percent). On the other hand, the LSM industries that witnessed negative growth, included chemicals (2.11 percent), leather products (17.02 percent) and wood products (93.74 percent) and rubber products (0.21 percent). The provisional QIM is being computed on the basis of the latest production data of 112 items received from sources including Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC), Ministry of Industries and Production (MoIP) and Provincial Bureaus of Statistics (PBoS). OCAC provides data of 11 items, MoIP of 36 items while PBoS proved data of remaining 65 items. Published in Daily Times, August 20th 2017.