India's factory output shrinks at fastest rate in over six years

Electricity generation declined by 0.9 percent as against an expansion of 7.6 percent in the year-ago month while the growth in the mining sector was flat at 0.1 percent.

The overall IIP growth during April-August period was 2.4 percent, down from 5.3 percent in the corresponding period of the last fiscal.

Also, the government revised July IIP to 4.6 percent as against the provisional estimate of 4.3 percent. The industrial output growth was recorded at 1.2 percent in June and 4.6 percent in May this year.

Subdued inflation and an economic slowdown have prompted the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to cut interest rates by a total of 135 basis points this year, including a 25-basis-point cut last week, making it the most aggressive central bank in Asia.

India's infrastructure output fell in August from a year earlier, the first contraction since April 2015, signalling the recovery in Asia's third-largest economy may be slow despite a cut in the corporate tax rate and other policy measures designed to spur investment.

India's passenger vehicle sales slumped 23.7 percent in September, the 11th straight month of declines, prompting an industry body to flag more job cuts if sales failed to pick up soon.

Car and auto component makers have cut thousands of jobs and halted some production as the industry grapples with various challenges amid a broader economic slowdown. The government stepped in last month, announcing a corporate tax rate cut to boost manufacturing and lift growth.

The government has also seen tax collections falling due to weakness in the economy. Collections from India's nationwide Goods and Services Tax (GST) fell to a 19-month low in September, while direct tax collection growth since the beginning of the current fiscal stands at 6 percent so far, below the required growth rate of 17 percent.