Manufacturing contracts for first time in 2 yrs, pulls down GDP to 6-yr low

This is the second contraction in the sector on a quarterly basis in the past eight years - since the new GDP series started in 2012-13

The manufacturing sector contracted for the first time in over two years, showed official data released on Friday.

The sector contracted by 1 per cent in the second quarter (July-September period) of this fiscal year, compared to a slow growth of 0.6 per cent in the previous quarter. Growth in the manufacturing sector stood at 6.9 per cent in the same quarter of the previous fiscal year. Manufacturing was the only sector which witnessed a decline in output during this quarter.

It was the manufacturing sector which pulled down the gross domestic product (GDP) growth to over six-year low of 4.5 per