Mumbai: Growth of industrial production in the country fell to 5.3 per cent in November this fiscal from 15.8 per cent in last fiscal led by a huge decline in manufacturing output.

Growth in manufacturing sector dipped to 5.4 per cent in November 2007 from 17.2 per cent in November 2006.

Electricity generation grew by a mere 5.8 per cent against 8.7 per cent in the comparative previous period. Mining was down at 3.5 per cent against 8.8 per cent last fiscal.

Cement production in November rose 4.5 per cent from a year earlier after growth of 7 per cent in October. ACC Ltd., India's largest cement company, saw sales decline by 6 per cent last month.

During the first half of the current fiscal (April-November 2007-08), the index of industrial production settled at a single digit of 9.2 per cent against 10.9 per cent in the same period last year.

All the segment indices were in the single digit for the April-November period.

The November figure is also the slowest in 13 months, giving hope that the central bank may soon end more than three years of interest rate increases.

The Reserve Bank of India has raised interest rates nine times since 2004 and increased cash reserve requirements for commercial banks in the past year to contain inflation below its target of 5 per cent.
 
While inflation stayed at about 3.5 per cent in the week ended December 29, down from 6.7 per cent at the start of 2007, this has been more due to steady prices of fuel. The government refrained from raising fuel costs even as crude oil prices rose to a record over $100 a barrel.

India, Asia's third-largest economy, expanded 8.9 per cent in the three months to September 30 from a year earlier, the slowest pace in three quarters. Growth is expected to ease further to 8.4 per cent in 2008 from 9 per cent last year and 9.4 per cent in 2006, according to a World Bank report.