Core sector logs 6.7% growth in January

New Delhi: Eight infrastructure sectors grew at a faster pace of 6.7% in January, against 3.4% in the year-ago month as petroleum refinery and cement output zoomed while steel power and coal production improved.

The eight core sectors – coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity – had grew by 4.2% in December and 7.4% in November this financial year.

Petroleum refinery production spurted 11% in January, against a flat output in the year-ago month. Cement output jumped 20.7% in the month, against 13.3% contraction in the year-ago period. Electricity generation growth also fast-paced to 8.2% in January, against 5.2% in January 2017. Coal sector output improved by 3% and steel production by 3.7% in January 2018.

Crude oil production however dropped 3.2%, fertilisers by 1.6% and natural gas by 1% in the month under review.

Cumulatively, the growth in the eight core sectors during April-January this fiscal slowed to 4.3%, as against 5.1% in the same period last fiscal.

The growth in key sectors will have implications for the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) as these eight segments account for about 41% of the total factory output.