India output growth slows to just 0.5%

India reported Friday that industrial output grew by an unexpectedly low 0.5 percent in July from a year earlier, showing that Asia's third-largest economy still is struggling.
The half-percentage-point growth in production by mines, factories and utilities was far below consensus market estimates of a two-percent rise and marked a sharp slowdown from 3.4 percent annual growth in June.
The official figures highlighted the tough task facing Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who took power in May, to deliver quickly on his election pledge to lift India out of its longest spell of sub-five percent growth in a quarter-century.
Manufacturing growth shrank by one percent in July from a year earlier.
But consumer price inflation eased slightly in August to 7.8 percent year-on-year from 7.96 percent the previous month, easing pressure on India's central bank to hike already-elevated interest rates that have hindered growth-stimulating investment.