Oct industrial output falls to -5.1%

Any uncertainty on whether India's economy was indeed slowing down was put to rest by the dismal industrial output numbers for October.

The October industrial output saw a sharp de-growth of 5.1%. A CNBC-TV18 poll of economists had expected a contraction of 1.6% compared to 1.9% in September, on the back of poor capital expansion.

Meanwhile, the September IIP was revised to 2% versus the earlier figure of 1.9%.

Manufacturing output, which constitutes about 76% of the industrial production, fell an annual 6%, the federal statistics office said in a statement.

During April-October, industrial production expanded 3.5%. The output had grown 7.8% in the 2010-11 fiscal year that ended in March, slower than 10.5% clocked in the previous year.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, C Rangarajan, chairman of PMEAC said that the data was disappointing particularly that of capital goods. He feels the public sector investment needs to pick up for any sort of a recovery.

With investment stalling, many private economists expect the economy to struggle to grow even at 7% this year.

"I think containing fiscal deficit at 4.6% will be a challenge," he said adding, "