March infrastructure output up 2.9 percent

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's infrastructure sector output rose 2.9 percent in March from a year earlier, government data showed on Tuesday, suggesting an uptick in investments after the worst slowdown in a decade in Asia's third-largest economy.

The contraction in February's output was revised to an annual 2.4 percent from 2.5 percent earlier, the figures showed.

Infrastructure output for eight sectors -- coal, crude oil, oil refinery, natural gas, steel, cement, electricity and fertilisers -- grew 2.6 percent in 2012/13 fiscal year through March compared with a growth of 5 percent in the previous year.

The infrastructure sector accounts for 37.9 percent of India's industrial output, which has remained almost flat during the last fiscal year, clipping the country's economic growth. (Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh; editing by Malini Menon)