New Delhi, May 13 (KNN) India's factory output has contracted by 0.5 per cent in March, for the second month in a row while the retail inflation has surged to a three-month high of 8.59 per cent in April reflecting a subdued state of economy.
 
However, the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) contracted at a slower pace following slightly better manufacturing performance.
 
In February, IIP had contracted by 1.8 per cent in February. The manufacturing sector declined by 1.2 per cent against 3.7 per cent last month.
 
The IIP for February stood revised to a contraction of 1.8 per cent from 1.9 per cent earlier, according to the official data. The overall IIP data for 2013-14 shrank 0.1 per cent against an expansion of 1.1 per cent last year.
 
Almost half the manufacturing sub sectors showed contraction in March. 

“In terms of industries, 12 out of the 22 industry groups (as per 2-digit NIC-2004) in the manufacturing sector have shown negative growth during the month of March 2014 as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year,” said an official release.

 
Meanwhile, there was strong performance of consumer non-durables output, which grew 7.2 per cent (-1.2 per cent). While capital goods output contracted 12.5 per cent (-17.4 per cent), electricity sector grew 5.4 per cent (11.5 per cent). The mining sector contracted 0.4 per cent in March against a growth of 1.4 per cent last month.

 
Retail inflation for April was at a three-month high of 8.59 per cent, higher than 8.31 per cent last month, mainly due to rising food inflation at 9.66 per cent (9.1 per cent).

The corresponding provisional inflation rates for rural and urban areas for April 2014 are 9.25 per cent and 7.69 per cent respectively. Inflation rates (final) for rural and urban areas for March 2014 are 8.89 per cent and 7.51 per cent respectively. 

Core inflation data for April remained unchanged at 7.8 per cent. (KNN/SD)