Industrial output at 21-month low

New Delhi, May 10

India’s industrial production contracted by 0.1% in March this year, the lowest in 21 months, mainly due to manufacturing sector slowdown, official data showed today.

Factory output, as measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), had grown by 5.3% in March 2018, according to data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

IIP’s previous low was recorded in June 2017, when output shrank by 0.3%.

On annual basis, IIP growth slowed to three-year low of 3.6% in the 2018-19 fiscal as against 4.4% in the previous fiscal. — PTI