India’s industrial output contracted for the first time in nearly two years, partly hurt by weak mining activity and lower electricity generation, government data showed on Friday (Oct 11). Industrial output fell 0.1 per cent year-on-year in August, contrary to economists’ expectations of 1.2 per cent growth in a Reuters poll. Industrial output grew 4.7 per cent in July. Manufacturing output rose 1 per cent year-on-year, while electricity generation fell 3.7 per cent and mining activity fell 4.3 per cent, the data showed. In the April-August period, industrial output growth slowed to 4.2 per cent from a revised 6.2 per cent jump a year earlier.
