<p>Men work inside a steel factory at Ludhiana, Punjab</p><p><b>IIP grew by just 1.8% year-on-year in December 2011 due to contraction in mining and capital goods sectors and a lower manufacturing sector growth.</b></p><p>Factory output growth, as measured by the IIP, was at 8.1% in December 2010.</p><p><b>(Pictures by Reuters and Sanjay K Sharma)