Slowdown clouds darken: Core sector output contracts 5.8% in October

The output of the eight core sectors of the economy fell for the second month in October, contracting by a record 5.8 per cent as a broad-based decline gripped almost all industries. Output had contracted by 5.2 per cent in the previous month — September — after rising just 0.1 per cent in August.

Cumulative growth of the core sectors till October in the current fiscal year (FY19) stood at only 0.2 per cent, down from 5.4 per cent in the previous year.

Economists said the latest figures portend a deepening of the ongoing industrial slowdown. “Such low growth in core sector