India's core industry index shows positive growth in December

The industrial output index for India's eight core industries registered a rise in December, pushed up by higher coal, refinery products, fertilizers, cement and electricity output.

The index representing major infrastructure sectors had recorded a fall in November 2015.

The index showed a rise of 0.9 percent in December 2015 on a month-on-month basis, compared to the 1.3 percent decline in November, official data showed on Monday.

The core industries grew 3.2 percent in October last year.

However the select factory output index for December is less than the growth of 3.2 percent achieved during the corresponding month in 2014, a commerce ministry release said.

This index comprises 38 percent of the total weightage of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

Its cumulative growth from April to December 2015-16 stood at 1.9 percent, as compared to 5.7 percent during the corresponding period of 2014-15.

Out of the eight core industries, fertilizers and coal reported healthy output numbers. However, production of oil, natural gas, and steel dwindled in the period under review.

Electricity recorded 2.7 percent change in December 2015 as compared with 4.8 percent in December 2014. Its cumulative index during April to December 2015-16 decreased by six percent over the corresponding period of previous year.

Distilling of refinery products, the third most important component as per weightage, increased by 2.1 percent in December.

Extraction of crude oil, which has a 5.21 percent weightage in IIP, fell by 4.1 percent during the month under review in comparison with 1.4 percent decline of December 2014.

Coal mining, with a 4.38 percent weightage, increased by 6.1 percent.

The sub-index for natural gas output, with a weightage of 1.71 percent, slipped by 6.1 percent in the month under consideration.

The fertilisers manufacturing with a weightage of only 1.25 percent rose exponentially by 13.1 percent.

Steel declined by 4.4 percent in December 2015.