The outlook for the Indian economy seems softer this month, with a few economic indicators weakening even as core inflation witnessed a slight uptick amid cooler headline inflation, the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) said on Wednesday.

The Council said in its August review of the economy that high-frequency indicators reveal the domestic economy has remained resilient, but the outlook remains softer. The NCAER flagged the moderation in industrial output and core sectors’ performance in June, and noted a deceleration in credit growth for the industrial and services sectors’ as well as for personal loans.

While headline year-on-year inflation slowed for both consumer and wholesale prices in July 2024, mainly due to an easing of food inflation, the NCAER observed there was some cause for cheer in the farm sector with the second half of the southwest monsoon projected to be above normal.

“The progress of kharif sowing until the middle of August shows that the proportion of area sown was higher at 94.1% compared to 93.7% during the same period last year,” it said.