India's industrial production contracted for the first time in four months in October in a sign that economic recovery remains fragile, government data showed on Thursday.
Industrial output slumped 1.8 per cent in October after growing 2 per cent in September. Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted industrial output would contract by 1.2 per cent for the month.
The manufacturing sector, which constitutes about 76 per cent of industrial production, contracted 2 per cent from a year earlier, the statistics ministry said.
Capital goods production, a barometer for investments in the economy, grew 2.3 per cent in October from a year earlier.
Industrial activity was hit as the infrastructure output, which includes coal, electricity, cement, crude oil and steel factories contracted.
Output in those industries, which account for more than one-third of overall factory production, fell 0.6 per cent annually compared with a reading of 8 per cent in September, data released earlier showed.