Signs of slowdown became more pronounced as the government data on Friday revealed factory output shrank by 1.1 per cent in August, recording the poorest performance in seven years due to a sharp decline in production of capital goods and consumer durable.
Industrial production growth for the first time in more than two years has treaded into negative territory.
The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) had shown a growth of 4.8 per cent in August 2018. The previous low in IIP was (-) 1.7 per cent in November 2012.
The manufacturing sector, which contributes over 77 per cent to the IIP, contracted by 1.2 per cent, the lowest in five years, as against a growth of 5.2 per cent in the year-ago month, according to the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO).
The previous low in the manufacturing segment was recorded at (-) 1.8 per cent in October 2014.
The data revealed that electricity generation growth too was in negative at (-) 0.9 per cent as against an expansion of 7.6 per cent in the year-ago month while the mining sector growth was flat at 0.1 per cent.