India's industrial output DIPS by 0.4% in Sep

Indicating persistent sluggishness in the economy, industrial production contracted by 0.4 per cent in September due dismal show by manufacturing sector and decline in consumer as well as capital goods output.

Growth in overall factory output, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), was 2.5 per cent in September last year.

Industrial output in the April-September period this fiscal was 1 per cent, down from 5.1 per cent in the same period in 2011-12, according to the official data released on Monday.

Meanwhile the industrial production growth rate for August this year was revised downward to 2.3 per cent from earlier provisional estimates of 2.7 per cent released last month.

The output of manufacturing sector, which constitutes over 75 per cent of the index, contracted by 1.5 per cent in September, as against a growth of 3.1 per cent in the same month last year.

The production in the manufacturing sector in April-September this year also dipped by 0.4 per cent as against a growth of 5.5 per cent growth in the same period in 2011-12.

Capital goods output declined by 12.2 per cent in September, as against a contraction of 6.5 per cent in September, 2011.

Output of capital goods contracted in the April-September period by 13.7 per cent, as against growth of 4.6 per cent in the 2011-12 period.

However, mining output in September grew by 5.5 per cent as against a contraction of 7.5 per cent in same month last year. The sector's production in April-September was flat as compared to a contraction of 1.6 per cent in a year ago.

Consumer goods production was down by 0.3 per cent in September as compared to a growth of 5.7 per cent in same month last year. In April-September period of this fiscal, the growth in the segment was 2.5 per cent, compared to 4.7 per cent in the first half of last fiscal.