The one piece of evidence on the growth front that went against this logic was the sharp decline in the growth rate of industrial production in March. The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) grew by a shocking 3 per cent over March 2007, exacerbating concerns that the slowdown was, in fact, worse than anticipated. Given this, the timing of the interest rate hike, coming as it did on the day before the April numbers of the IIP were announced, may have been a little surprising. In the event, the IIP numbers have vindicated the RBI's decision. The index grew by 7 per cent in April, a reasonable rebound from the March performance (which itself was revised upwards to 3.9 per cent). This is still very much a slowdown
