An all round poor performance in the key sectors dragged down the industrial growth to 5.2 per cent in August this year as against 6.2 per cent in the same period in 2002-03.

However, the cumulative growth during April-August this year showed a marginal improvement to 5.6 per cent as compared to 5.2 per cent in the corresponding period in 2002-03 due to manufacturing putting up a good performance, the Quick Estimates of Index of Industrial Production said on Friday.

During August, growth in all sectors -- manufacturing, mining and electricity registered a fall, pulling down the overall growth IIP to a level of 5.2 per cent.

Growth in manufacturing, which carries the highest weight in the IIP basket, was down to 6.0 per cent as compared to 6.5 per cent in August last fiscal.

Electricity output growth plummeted to a mere 0.9 per cent in August this year as compared to 4.1 per cent in the same period in 2002-03 and the growth in mining decelerated to 2.5 per cent as against 5.7 per cent in August last fiscal.

On a cumulative basis during the first five months of this fiscal, manufacturing sector, however, registered an impressive 6.2 per cent growth as compared to 5.0 per cent in the corresponding period in 2002-03, even as mining and electricity posted lower growth.