Separately, India’s factory output, measured through the index of industrial production (IIP), witnessed a contraction of 4 per cent year on year in October to 129.6. The IIP had risen by 4.2 per cent in October 2021.

India’s consumer price index-based retail inflation eased to an 11-month low of 5.88 per cent in November 2022, down from 6.77 per cent in October, the ministry of statistics and programme implementation said recently. Prices of clothing and footwear rose by 9.83 per cent in the month. The retail inflation print was at its lowest level since December 2021.

The CPI has come below the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) upper margin of 6 per cent for the first time in 2022.

The industrial output so far (April-October) in fiscal 2022-23 has risen by 5.3 per cent compared to a spike of 20.5 per cent in the corresponding period a year ago, the data showed.

The October IIP contraction was mainly due to the manufacturing sector. The manufacturing sector contracted by 5.6 per cent year on year to 128.7 in October. In October last year, the manufacturing sector had risen by 3.3 per cent.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)