By IANS,
New Delhi : India’s industrial production fell 0.5 percent in January to log a decline for the second month in a row, despite the stimulus packages announced by the government to pump prime the economy in the wake of the global slowdown.
The slide, based on the official data on index of industrial production released by the industry ministry Thursday, was on account of a 0.8 percent drop in manufacturing index and a 0.4 percent fall in the index for mining. Electricity generation was up 1.8 percent.
The fresh data places a question mark over India being able to log an overall economic growth of around 7 percent for the current fiscal as a whole, as industrial production has been able to expand by only 3 percent during the first 10 months.
The country’s industrial production had dropped in October for the first time in 15 years, following which it made a slight recovery next month with an expansion of 1.7 percent. But the index fell again in December, leaving India Inc worried.