Industrial output plummets in August

The turmoil in the global financial markets now seems to have started affecting the Indian economy in a really bad way. India's industrial production plunged to its worst level in more than a decade in August, the Government said. The index of industrial production (IIP) fell sharply to 263.6 in August from 273.8 in July, with the corresponding growth rate sliding to a paltry 1.3% from a healthy 7.4% in July. Economists had expected IIP growth at 6% in August. The mining sector grew by 4% in August versus 3% in July, while manufacturing grew by 1.1% in August as against 8% in July, and electricity rose by 0.8% in August compared to 4.5% year ago. The Government also said that it has revised the July industrial production growth to 7.4% from a provisional figure of 7.1%. For the first five months of the current fiscal year, industrial output growth stood at 4.9% versus 10% in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.