The eight infrastructure sectors -- coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity -- had recorded a growth of 3.2 per cent in November 2016.

Firming crude oil prices in the global market is likely to cast its shadow on retail inflation, which has began to move northwards after hitting a low of 1.46 per cent in June, and may prompt the RBI to hold interest rates at least for some time in 2018.

Government's decision to hike import duties on certain consumer products will make things difficult for buyers, and may even prove counterproductive for manufacturers. Join BusinessToday.in Editor Rajeev Dubey and Business Today Senior Editor Joe C Mathew for more insight into the matter.

The inflation, based on monthly WPI (Wholesale Price Index), rose to eight-month high of 3.93 per cent for the month of November on the back of rise in food and fuel prices. WPI Inflation stood at 3.59 per cent during the previous month and 1.82 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year.

As per data recently released by the government, consumer prices shot up in November to hit a 15-month high of nearly 4.9% while, for a second month in a row, factory output has slowed down-from 4.1 percent in September to 2.2 per cent in October.

The cumulative growth for the April-October 2017 period over the corresponding period of the previous year stands at 2.5 per cent.

Most of the economic indicators suggest that the Indian economy is on recovery after it touched the lowest -in last 13 quarters- of 5.7 for the period of April-June.

Retail inflation, which touched a seven-month high in October, is expected to rise further and cross the 4 per cent mark this month, driven by rise in vegetable and oil prices, experts say.

Tata Global Beverages September-quarter group consolidated net profit at Rs 144 crore versus profit of Rs 127 crore last year. Eicher Motors Q2 consolidated net profit at Rs 518 crore versus profit of Rs 413 crore last year. Shares slip 1.67 percent to 30,050 level.

The CSO data says the October inflation for the food basket increased to 1.9 per cent. It was 1.25 per cent in September. 

In September, growth in the manufacturing sector, which accounts for 77.63 per cent of the index, slowed to 3.4 per cent, from 5.8 per cent a year earlier.

Many economists had earlier forecast 4.2 per cent growth in output compared with an upwardly revised 4.5 per cent year-on-year increase in August.

Domestic passenger vehicle sales declined marginally to 2,79,837 units in October from 2,80,677 units in the same month last year. Car sales were down 5.32 per cent to 1,84,666 units last month as against 1,95,036 units in October last year, data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) show.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rallied 387.14 points or 1.17 percent to 33,600.27 and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 105.20 points or 1.02 percent to 10,440.50, after hitting an intraday record highs of 33,651.52 and 10,451.65, respectively. Market breadth was positive with 1,516 stocks closing higher against 1,274 stocks ending lower on the BSE.

Eight core sectors, which comprise 40.27 per cent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), grew to a six-month high of 5.2 per cent in September, driven by a brisk performance in coal, natural gas and refinery segments, official data showed on Tuesday.

Wholesale inflation dropped to 2.60 per cent in September as prices of food articles, including vegetables, softened. In August, the wholesale price index (WPI) had zoomed to a four-month high of 3.24 per cent. WPI inflation was at 1.36 per cent in September last year.

From the Editor Prosenjit Datta

Business sentiment hits a new low on rising concerns over economic slowdown and GST, finds the latest Business Today-C fore Business Confidence Survey.