(Representational image) (Representational image)

India’s industrial output contracted for a second straight month in August, falling by 0.7 percent from a year earlier, led by declines in mining and manufacturing production, government data showed on Monday Economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast a 0.2 percent annual fall in output compared with a revised 2.5 percent year-on-year decline in July.

Production at mines plunged 5.6 percent in August from a year earlier. Manufacturing output fell 0.3 percent year on-year. In a sign of anaemic investment, capital goods production shrank 22.2 percent. Consumer goods grew just 1.1 percent from a year ago, pointing to a tepid consumer demand.

Industrial output figures have paled in significance since last year, when New Delhi revamped the method it uses to calculate gross domestic product. The new method takes into account gross value addition in goods and services, a departure from the old practice that factored in volume-based indicators such as industrial output.

That helps to explain why India remains the fastest growing major economy despite sluggish measures of industrial production. The federal statistics office plans to revise and rebase the industrial production index in the next six months to better capture the changes taking place in the economy.

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