NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s industrial output rose 2.4% year on year in November, its weakest pace in eight months, data from the Ministry of Statistics showed on Friday, after manufacturing growth slowed.
The figure lags a 4% growth forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll, and a 7.6% output same month last year.
Output growth in November “crashed”, slowing sharply from 11.6% in October, due to a base effect that reversed due to a different festival calendar this year, Aditi Nayar, an economist at ICRA said.
India’s months long festive season that spurs inventory building typically peaks during Diwali – the festival of lights. It was celebrated on Nov. 12 this year instead of October last year.
Manufacturing output in November rose 1.2% year-on-year, sharply lower than 10.2% growth the previous month.
Electricity generation was up 5.8% and mining activities increased by 6.8% in November, the data showed.
Industrial output in the first eight months of the fiscal year that started in April was up 6.4% from the same period a year ago.
(Reporting by Shivangi Acharya, Editing by David Goodman and Barbara Lewis)
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