In a clear sign of deceleration, the industrial growth has slumped to a 24-month low of 1.8 per cent in September.

The 1.8 per cent year-on-year increase in the official index of industrial production (IIP) — compared with 6.1 per cent for September 2010 — marks the third successive month of decline, from 9.5 per cent in June to 3.8 per cent in July and 3.6 per cent in August.

As a result the growth for the entire first half of this fiscal works out to only 5 per cent against 8.2 per cent for April-September 2010.

The dip in the index of industrial production, lowest since 1.6 per cent in September 2009, was led by a contraction of nearly 6 per cent in mining, 7 per cent in capital goods (a proxy for investment activity in the economy) and 1.3 per cent in consumer non-durables.

Basic goods, capital goods and intermediate goods grew 4.5 per cent, (-) 6.8 per cent and 1.5 per cent, respectively over September 2010.

The consumer durables and consumer non-durables have recorded a growth of 8.7 per cent and a decline of 1.3 per cent, respectively, with the overall growth in consumer goods being 3.5 per cent over the corresponding month last year.

During the same month last year, the year-on-year growth rates were 9.7 per cent for consumer goods, 3.5 per cent for basic goods, 7.2 per cent for capital goods and 4.6 per cent for intermediate goods.

Among the major segments of the IIP, the index for manufacturing rose by a paltry 2.1 per cent in September, while amounting to 9 per cent for electricity and (-) 5.6 per cent for mining.

In the year-ago period, the year-on-year growth rates were 6.9 per cent for manufacturing and 1.8 per cent for electricity and 4.3 per cent for mining.

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