03-12-2009, 11:19 PM
<b>India Posts 1st Back-to-Back Output Fall in 16 Years </b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->March 12 (Bloomberg) -- India posted its first back-to-back decline in industrial production in 16 years, suggesting tax cuts and lower interest rates are yet to resuscitate demand in an economy faced with the worst slowdown since 2003.
Output at factories, utilities and mines fell 0.5 percent in January from a year earlier after a revised 0.6 percent drop in December, the Central Statistical Organization said in New Delhi today. Economists expected a 0.9 percent contraction.
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Indiaâs benchmark stock market index has declined 14 percent this year, extending 2008âs 52 percent drop, on concern the slowdown in demand will crimp profits of local companies. Shares pared gains after todayâs report, with the benchmark index closing 2.3 percent higher at 8,343.75.
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Manufacturing, which accounts for about 80 percent of Indiaâs total output, fell 0.8 percent in January, compared with a 1 percent drop in December, todayâs report showed. Mining dropped 0.4 percent, compared with a 1.8 percent gain in the previous month, while electricity production rose 1.8 percent from a 1.6 percent gain. Basic-goods production fell 1 percent. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Output at factories, utilities and mines fell 0.5 percent in January from a year earlier after a revised 0.6 percent drop in December, the Central Statistical Organization said in New Delhi today. Economists expected a 0.9 percent contraction.
..........
Indiaâs benchmark stock market index has declined 14 percent this year, extending 2008âs 52 percent drop, on concern the slowdown in demand will crimp profits of local companies. Shares pared gains after todayâs report, with the benchmark index closing 2.3 percent higher at 8,343.75.
...
Manufacturing, which accounts for about 80 percent of Indiaâs total output, fell 0.8 percent in January, compared with a 1 percent drop in December, todayâs report showed. Mining dropped 0.4 percent, compared with a 1.8 percent gain in the previous month, while electricity production rose 1.8 percent from a 1.6 percent gain. Basic-goods production fell 1 percent. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->