India December Factory Output Shrinks 0.4% From Last Year

India's industrial output fell 0.4 percent in December from a year earlier, driven down by a contraction in consumer and capital goods production, government data showed on Friday.

Economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast a 1.1 percent growth in output compared with a 5.7 percent year-on-year growth in November.

India's factory output rose 5.7% in November in the wake of the government's demonetisation drive, while retail inflation declined to 3.41% in December from 3.63% in the month before.

The factory output, as per the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), had dipped by 1.81% in October.

(Reporting by Manoj Kumar; Editing by Malini Menon)

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