Eight core industries grow 4.2 percent in April

Eight core industries such as coal, electricity, crude oil, cement and steel, grew 4.2 percent in April this year, compared to 3.7 percent during the corresponding month of last year, official data showed Monday.

The index of eight core industries having a combined weight of 37.90 percent in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) with base 2004-05 stood at 160.99 in April, the ministry of commerce and industry said in a statement.

Electricity generation, which has 10.32 percent weight in the IIP, grew 11.2 percent in April 2014 as compared to 3.5 percent in the same month of previous year.

Cement production grew 6.2 percent and steel output surged 3.1 percent.

Coal production was up 3.3 percent and fertilizer production grew 11.1 percent in the month under review.

However, three of the eight core industries registered negative growth in April.

Natural gas production fell 7.7 percent, crude oil output was down 0.1 percent, and petroleum and refinery products declined 2.2 percent.

The IIP, the barometer for measuring industrial output, had contracted by 0.5 percent in March due to a sharp drop in manufacturing production.

The IIP data for April has not been released yet.