The government on Friday suspended for the second straight month release of industrial output numbers for May because of inadequate data collection following a two-month long lockdown imposed to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

Most industrial businesses were not operating from March, a statement released by the ministry of statistics said.

The government had earlier suspended the release of industrial production numbers for April as well as the retail inflation data for April and May.

The ministry released quick estimates of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), which showed the index value at 88.4 in May against 53.6 in April, indicating a graded pick-up in industrial activity.

The index stood at 135.4 in May 2019, which indicates a contraction of 34.71 per cent in industrial activity in May 2020.

The ministry did not provide any comparable percentage data while noting that it was not appropriate to compare the IIP data with the earlier months because of the lockdown.

“Until the lockdown ends, the contraction in industrial production will continue to have a negative impact on India’s GDP,” said Rahul Gupta, head of research-currency, Emkay Global Financial Services.

Nikhil Gupta, chief economist at Motilal Oswal Financial Services, said, “Going ahead, while June 2020 appears to be a far better month, we expect IIP to continue declining for another 3-4 months.”