Industrial production shrinks 0.3 pc in Dec

The country's industrial output contracted by 0.3 per cent in December, weighed by a decline in the manufacturing sector, government data showed on Wednesday.

The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) had grown by 2.5 per cent in December 2018.

According to the National Statistical Office (NSO) data, manufacturing sector output declined by 1.2 per cent compared to growth of 2.9 per cent in the same month a year ago.

Electricity generation also dipped 0.1 per cent as against a growth of 4.5 per cent in December 2018.

Mining sector output grew by 5.4 per cent, compared to a contraction of 1 per cent earlier.

The IIP growth during April-December period of the current fiscal decelerated to 0.5 per cent from 4.7 per cent expansion in the same period of 2018-19.