Pulled down by a sharp contraction in capital goods output, the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) unexpectedly shrank 0.8 per cent in April, as against 3 per cent growth in the same month last year.
This is the first time in three months that the factory output has contracted, prompting industry to demand policy interventions from the government. Capital goods output fell for the sixth straight month.
However, the government revised upwards the March IIP growth to 0.3 per cent from an earlier estimate of 0.1 per cent.
The fall in output in capital goods, which contracted 24.9 per cent, and consumer non-durables, which declined 9.7 per cent, weighed on overall manufacturing output, which slipped 3.1 per cent.
Manufacturing, which has 75 per cent weightage in IIP, had recorded 3.9 per cent growth in April 2015.
Nine of the 22 industry groups in manufacturing showed negative growth