The manufacturing sector, which constitutes over 75 per

cent of the index, registered a contraction of 0.7 per cent in December 2012, as against a growth of 2.8 per cent during the same month of 2011. The growth in the output of the key sector remained low at 0.7 per cent in April-December last year as against 4 per cent growth in the same period of 2011. Expressing concern over the IIP figures, another chamber CII said that upstream mining industries continues to show a contraction which going forward could lead to shortages of coal, ores and other industrial materials. The mining output in December last year contracted by 4 per cent compared to a decline in production by 3.3 per cent in the same month in 2011. In April-December, the production in the sector declined by 1.9 per cent, against a contraction of 2.6 per cent in the year-ago period. Meanwhile the decline in industrial output for November 2012 has been revised further downwards to 0.84 per cent from a contraction of 0.1 per cent during the period as per provisional estimates released last month. Capital goods output declined by 0.9 per cent in December, as against a contraction of 16 per cent in same month of 2011. Capital goods output also contracted in the April-December period by 10.1 per cent, as against a dip of 2.9 per cent in the same period of 2011-12. Consumer goods output also saw a contraction of 4.2 per cent in December as against a growth in production by 10.1 per cent during the same period of previous year. In the April- December period of this fiscal, the growth in the segment had stood at 2.6 per cent as compared to 5.7 per cent in the same period of 2011-12. The dip in the consumer durables output stood at 8.2 per cent in December, as compared to a growth of 5.1 per cent in the same month of 2011. The growth in the output of these goods was at 3.7 per cent in April-December 2012, compared to 5.1 per cent in same period previous fiscal.