India's Industrial Output Falls Unexpectedly; Exports Fall

(RTTNews) - India's industrial production declined unexpectedly in February due to the weakness in manufacturing, official data showed Friday.

Industrial production fell 1.9 percent in February from last year, the Central Statistical Office said Friday. Output was expected to rise by 0.9 percent, after expanding by a revised 0.8 percent in January.

Data showed that manufacturing output declined 3.7 percent year-on-year in February. Partially offsetting the fall in manufacturing, electricity output advanced 11.5 percent and mining gained 1.4 percent.

The cumulative growth for the period April 2013 to February 2014 over the corresponding period of the previous year came in at negative 0.1 percent.

A report from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry today showed that exports fell 3.2 percent in March from the previous year to $29.58 billion. At the same time, imports dropped 2.1 percent to $40.09 billion. The trade gap widened slightly to $10.5 billion in March.

For the full year ended March 2014, exports advanced 3.98 percent from last year and imports decreased 8.11 percent. The deficit narrowed to 138.59 billion from $190.33 billion a year ago.