The country's factory output in May remained muted, strengthening calls for a rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India in its policy review next month. The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) grew 1.2 per cent in May against a contraction of 1.3 per cent in April. It had expanded by 2.5 per cent in May 2015. Meanwhile, retail inflation which is outside the central bank's comfort zone and at a 22-month high in June remained stable at 5.77 per cent. It was 5.76 per cent in May. Among the sectors, the sharpest growth in May was in electricity at 4.7 per cent, followed by mining at 1.3 per cent and manufacturing at 0.7 per cent. Raising concerns over the private investments, growth in capital goods contracted sharply by 12.4 per cent in May but was better than the contraction of 25 per cent in April. Growth in consumer durables was the highest at 6 per cent among the use-based classification of industries, while consumer non-durables declined by 2.2 per cent.