The output of eight core sector industries contracted by 0.6 per cent in October due to poor showing by coal, oil and gas sectors.
The decline in output of eight core sector industries — coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizers, steel, cement, electricity — follows a robust 8 per cent growth in September.
According to the data released by the government on Monday, the output of eight infrastructure industries in April-October was a mere 2.6 per cent against 6.8 per cent in the same period of last fiscal.
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The eight core industries have a combined weight of about 38 per cent in the Index for Industrial Production (IIP). The October IIP numbers will be released in the second week of December.
Natural gas output contracted by 13.6 per cent in October (year-on-year). Coal production declined by 3.9 per cent. Crude oil output was also poor with 0.8 per cent fall during the month under review.
Petroleum refinery production declined by 4.8 per cent. Among those which put up good performance, fertilizer output registered a growth of 4.1 per cent and steel production grew at 3.5 per cent.
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Marginal growth in cement output
Cement and power generation sectors posted marginal growth of over 1 per cent each during the month under review. In April-October, the output of natural gas contracted by 16.1 per cent. Crude oil production declined by 1.2 per cent in the seven-month period.
In the case of production of petroleum refinery products, the growth slowed down to 3.7 per cent in the first seven months of this fiscal as compared to 29.7 per cent in the same period last year.
Coal production growth slowed to 1.3 per cent in April-October.
The cement industry registered a growth of 4 per cent in this period. Also, electricity sector reported a growth of 4.8 per cent. The fertilizers sector grew 2.7 per cent and the steel industry 4.4 per cent in April-October. — PTI