Industrial growth drops to 5.3% in Jan

Growth in index of industrial production (IIP) slipped to 5.3% in January 2008 when compared with 11.6% in January 2007.The industrial growth in January is also lower than the previous month's upwardly revised 7.7%, according to data released by Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) today.Industrial production growth in January is the lowest since October 2006, when it stood at 4.51%.Growth in industrial production slipped to 8.7% between April-January 2007-08 when compared with 11.2% in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.The slower rate of growth has been attributed to a sluggish performance by manufacturing and mining sectors during the month. A strong rupee as well as tight monetary measures have cut demand resulting in lower growth rate of industrial production.Growth in the manufacturing sector declined to 5.9% in January as against 12.3% in January 2007. Electricity generation growth in January fell to 3.3% as against 8.3% in the year-ago period, and mining output growth moderated to 1.8% as against 7.7% in January 2007.