India Factory-Output Unexpectedly Declines as Inflation Quickens

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India’s industrial output contracted unexpectedly in May, adding pressure for more government steps to revive the economy as a sliding rupee curbs scope for further interest-rate cuts.

Production at factories, utilities and mines declined 1.6 percent from a year earlier after a revised 1.9 percent climb in April, the Central Statistical Office said in New Delhi yesterday. The median of 31 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey was for a 1.4 percent gain. Another report showed consumer-price inflation accelerated to 9.87 percent in June.