RBI chief says investment growth needs to pick up

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan said India's macroeconomic indicators are improving and inflation has been coming down consistent with the central bank's forecast, but Asia's third-largest economy needs investment growth to pick up.

Rajan, however, said Friday's industrial output and inflation data suggested that recovery was "uneven."

Output from mines, utilities and factories grew by a much slower-than-expected 0.5 percent year-on-year, government data showed on Friday, down from June's revised 3.9 percent rise.

Retail inflation, which the RBI tracks for setting lending rates, edged down marginally to 7.8 percent in August from 7.96 percent a month earlier.

(Reporting by Neha Dasgupta; Editing by Anand Basu)