Industrial growth fell to a meagre 3.3% in July this year on account of poor performance mainly by capital goods, manufacturing and mining sectors, reflecting sluggishness in the economy.
Growth in the factory output, as measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), had stood at 9.9% in July last year.
During the April-July period of this fiscal, IIP growth stood at 5.8%, as against 9.7% in the corresponding four-month period last year.
Output of the manufacturing sector, which constitutes over 75% of the index, grew by only 2.3% in July compared to 10.8% expansion in the same month last year, according the official data released today.
Production of capital goods declined by 15.2% in July, in comparison to a growth of 40.3% in the same month of 2010.
The growth in mining production was 2.8% in the month, down from 8.7% in the same month last year.
Production of intermediate goods fell by 1.1% during the month under review against a growth of 8.5% in July 2010.
Consumer durables grew by 8.6% in July as compared to a growth of 14.8% in the corresponding month of last year.
However, electricity production improved witnessing a growth of 13.1% in July this year as against a growth of 3.7% in July, 2010.
Non-durable consumer goods (FMCG) production also grew by 4.1% in July, compared to a decline of 0.9% in the same month last year.
Meanwhile, the industrial growth number for June this year has been maintained at the provisional figure of 8.8%. However, the IIP numbers for April has been revised downward to 5.3% as per the final revision from the previous estimate of 5.7%.
The fall the industrial production numbers, as shown by the latest data, suggest continuation of the sluggishness in the economy, experts said.
The IIP had expanded by 5.9% in May but there was brief revival in June with industrial production growing by 8.8%.
India's economy grew by 7.7% in the April-June period, the slowest in six quarters.
India Inc had attributed the slowdown to rising interest rates which have led to an increase in the cost of borrowings, thus hindering fresh investments.
The Reserve Bank has hiked interest rates 11 times since March 2010 to tame inflation. Headline inflation has been above the 9% mark since December last year.