Indicating sluggishness in the economy, industrial growth fell to 5.6 pc in May this year from 8.5 pc in the same month last year, mainly due to the poor performance of the manufacturing and mining sectors.

Factory output in the month of April, as measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), has also been revised downward to 5.7 percent from the earlier estimate of 6.3 percent, as per the new series with a base year of 2004-05.

According to data released in New Delhi on Tuesday, industrial growth in April-May this year averaged 5.7 percent, compared to 10.8 percent in the same period last year.

The manufacturing sector, which accounts for over 75 percent of the total weight of the index, grew by just 5.6 percent in May, 2011, as against 8.9 percent in the same month of 2010.

Similarly, the mining sector grew by a meagre 1.4 percent in May, 2011, as against 7.9 percent in the same month last year.

Another area of concern was poor offtake of capital goods, which grew by just 5.9 percent during the month under review as compared to 15.8 percent in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Growth in output of intermediate goods also registered a sharp decline to 0.9 percent in May from 11.7 percent in the corresponding year-ago period.

Overall, consumer goods saw lower growth of 5.4 percent in May, 2011, as against 7.4 percent in May, 2010.

The IIP performance is even worse as per the old series of index, with a base year of 1993-94, which recorded industrial growth at 3.6 percent in May, 2011, as against 12.2 percent in the same month last year.

The new series with a 2004-05 base was introduced in April.