MUMBAI, India (AP) — India says industrial output contracted by 1.8 percent in June, worse than expected.
Falling manufacturing production drove the slump. Thursday's data will put pressure on the central bank to cut interest rates even though inflation remains high.
India's growth is at its lowest in almost a decade. The central bank recently cut its growth forecast for the year ending March 2013 to 6.5 percent, but many private sector economists are saying that the economy won't even attain 6 percent growth.
Last June, industrial output grew by 9.5 percent.
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