Industry seeks pause in interest rate hikes

Industry today sought government intervention, asking it to announce measures to revive the investment sentiment in the wake of subdued growth in the factory output.

It also called upon the Reserve Bank to "pay heed" to the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and pause interest rate hikes.

"There are enough signals of slowdown in the industrial sector now. It is high time government seriously looked into providing some investment boosting measures to revive the growth in manufacturing," Ficci President Harsh Mariwala said.

The IIP remained subdued for the second consecutive month in August, registering growth of just 4.1%. The manufacturing sector -- which constitutes over 75% of the index -- grew by 4.5%, as against 4.7% in August 2010.

CII said after a remarkable recovery from the global crisis of 2008-09, the Indian economy is facing critical challenges again.

"RBI should pay heed to today