September industrial output accelerates

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's industrial production growth picked up to 2 percent year on year in September, from a revised reading of 0.4 percent in August - driven by an uptick in export and domestic orders, government data showed on Tuesday.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected an annual output growth of 3.5 percent for the month.

The manufacturing sector, which constitutes about 76 percent of industrial production, grew at 0.6 percent from a year earlier, the federal statistics ministry said.

Capital goods production, a barometer for investments in the economy, contracted by 6.8 percent in September from a year earlier.

Industrial activity received a boost from a surge in infrastructure output, which includes coal, electricity, cement, crude oil and steel factories.

Output in those industries, which account for more than one-third of overall factory production, rose 8.0 percent annually that month versus 3.7 percent in August, data released earlier showed.

Stronger demand from India's export destinations also led to an increase in production, with exports growing 11.15 percent annually during September. (Reporting by Manoj Kumar; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)