New Delhi, April 29 -- India's industrial output growth slowed to a five-month low in March, though it remained stronger than the contraction in core-sector output had indicated. The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) rose 4.1% year-on-year in March, down from a revised 5.1% in February, data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Tuesday showed. The overall IIP index stood at 173.2 in March, compared to 166.3 a year ago. The March print came even as the index of eight core industries, which carries about 40% weight in the IIP, contracted 0.4% in the same month. The divergence suggests that non-core industrial activity helped offset the weakness in sectors such as fertilisers, crude oil, coal and electricity reflected in the core-sector data released last week. However, the stronger-than-expected March IIP print may not fully capture the impact of the West Asia shock, as weaker producer sentiment and input-supply disruptions are likely to show up in production data with a lag. "The March data captures only a part of the shock as uncertainty and weak producer sentiment have yet to fully manifest in production data. The deeper impact is expected to show up down the road, particularly in the first quarter of this fiscal," said Dipti Deshpande, principal economist at Crisil. Manufacturing, which has the highest weight in the index at 77.6%, grew 4.3% in March, slowing from 5.9% in February. Mining output accelerated to 5.5% from 3.1% in February. Electricity generation was the laggard, expanding just 0.8%, compared to 2.3% the previous month-consistent with the weakness seen in core-sector electricity data. Within manufacturing, 14 of the 23 industry groups registered positive growth in March. The major positive contributors were manufacture of basic metals, which grew 8.6%; manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers, which expanded 18.1%; and manufacture of machinery and equipment, which rose 11.2%. On the use-based classification, capital goods stood out with a 14.6% surge, extending double-digit growth for a second consecutive month. Infrastructure and construction goods grew 6.7%, slipping into single digits after four months of double-digit growth, a reflection of the slowdown in steel and cement output noted in the core sector data. Intermediate goods rose 3.3%, consumer durables 5.3% and consumer non-durables 1.1%....