Indicating sluggishness in the economy, industrial growth fell to 5.6% in May this year from 8.5% in the same month last year, mainly due to the poor performance of the manufacturing and mining sectors.
Factory output in the month of April, as measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), has also been revised downward to 5.7% from the earlier estimate of 6.3%, as per the new series with a base year of 2004-05.
According to data released here, industrial growth in April-May this year averaged 5.7%, compared to 10.8% in the same period last year.
The manufacturing sector, which accounts for over 75% of the total weight of the index, grew by just 5.6% in May, 2011, as against 8.9% in the same month of 2010.
Similarly, the mining sector grew by a meagre 1.4% in May, 2011, as against 7.9% in the same month last year.
Another area of concern was poor offtake of capital goods, which grew by just 5.9% during the month under review as compared to 15.8% in the corresponding period of the previous year.
Growth in output of intermediate goods also registered a sharp decline to 0.9% in May from 11.7% in the corresponding year-ago period.
Overall, consumer goods saw lower growth of 5.4% in May, 2011, as against 7.4% in May, 2010.
The IIP performance is even worse as per the old series of index, with a base year of 1993-94, which recorded industrial growth at 3.6% in May, 2011, as against 12.2% in the same month last year.
The new series with a 2004-05 base was introduced in April.
