Core sector growth slows down to 4-month low of 4.3% in Sept

Growth of eight infrastructure sectors slowed down to 4.3 per cent in September, the lowest in the last four months, as production of crude oil and natural gas declined.

Previously, the lowest growth rate was in May 2018 when the core sectors expanded at 4.1 per cent.

Eight infrastructure sectors of coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity had grown by 4.7 per cent in September 2017.

The output of crude oil and natural gas dipped by 4.2 per cent and 1.8 per cent respectively in the month under review, according to the data released by the commerce and industry ministry on Wednesday.

Fertiliser, cement and electricity output grew by 2.5 per cent, 11.8 per cent, and 8.2 per cent, respectively.

However, the growth of coal, refinery products, and steel sectors declined to 6.4 per cent, 2.5 per cent and 3.2 per cent respectively in September.

During April-September 2018, the core sector growth was 5.5 per cent as against 3.2 per cent in the year-ago period.

These eight segments comprise 40.27 per cent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).