Factory output contracted 1.9 per cent in February, lower than 0.6 per cent growth recorded in same month last year.
For the April-February 2014 period, factory output contracted 0.1 per cent as compared to 0.9 per cent growth seen in same period in the previous year, official data released on Friday showed.
The latest Index of Industrial Production (IIP) print for February is a nine month low. It is also lower than the revised January print of 0.8 per cent (from 0.1 percent earlier)
The IIP performance for February 2014 was weighed down by 3.7 percent contraction in manufacturing, which accounts for 75.5 percent weightage in the index.
However, electricity, which has a 10 percent weightage, saw a robust output growth of 11.5 percent as against a contraction of 3.2 percent in same month last year.
USE BASED CLASSIFICATION
Capital goods output declined 17.4 percent for the month under review as compared to 9.1 percent growth in same month last year.
While basic goods output grew 3.9 percent (-1.8 percent), consumer goods output declined 4.5 percent (0.8 percent growth). Within the consumer goods space, consumer durables saw a contraction of 9.3 percent (-2.6 percent).
In February, consumer non-durables output contracted 1.2 percent (3.2 percent growth).