The year-on-year growth of the core sector has slowed to 0.4% in June from 3.6% in May and 6.92% in June 2016 — owing to a decline in output of coal, refinery products, fertilizer and cement. The performance in June is the lowest since the growth of 0.18% in November 2015.
The eight core industries comprise 40.27% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). Its cumulative growth during April to June, 2017-18, was 2.4%, according to data released by the government on Monday.
Coal production declined 6.7% in June, 2017, while the output of crude oil increased 0.6%. Natural gas production increased 6.4%, while that of petroleum refinery declined by 0.2% and fertilizer declined by 3.6%. Meanwhile, steel production increased by 5.8% in June, but cement output declined by 5.8%. However, electricity generation increased marginally by 0.7% in June.
