The growth of eight core sectors slowed down to 2.1% in February due to fall in output of crude oil and refinery products, official data showed on Monday.
Eight infrastructure sectors — coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity — had expanded by 5.4% in February 2018.
Production of crude oil and refinery products contracted by 6.1%, and 0.8%, respectively, in February.
Growth rate of production of fertiliser, steel, cement and electricity slowed to 2.5%, 4.9%, 8% and 0.7% in February as against 5.2%, 5%, 23% and 4.6% in the same month of 2018, respectively.
However, coal and natural gas output grew by 7.3%, and 3.8%, respectively, in the month under review.
Sluggish infrastructure sector growth will also have impact on the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) as these segments account for about 41% of the total factory output.
According to the Commerce and Industry Ministry data, during April-February 2018-19, the eight sectors recorded a flat growth rate of 4.3% over the same period previous fiscal.
