Core infra growth loses steam, falls to 3.5% in 2014-15

Crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertiliser and steel have contributed to the lower growth of eight core infrastructure sectors in 2014-15, Parliament was informed today.

Growth of the eight sectors slowed to 3.5 per cent in 2014-15 compared with 4.2 per cent in the previous fiscal.

"Crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertiliser and steel have contributed to the lower growth in overall index during April-March 2014-15," Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

In 2014-15, crude oil, natural gas and fertiliser recorded a negative growth while output of refinery products and steel has registered a steep decline during the period.

"In general, low production of crude oil and natural gas was inter alia due to ageing fields, water/sand ingress, environmental problems, etc. And that of refinery products was due to shutdown of certain units on account of accidents," she said.

She attributed the decline in production of steel to procedural and infrastructural bottlenecks faced by the industry.

"Production of fertiliser was affected due to non- availability of adequate natural gas, unforeseen shutdown and shortage of raw materials of phosphoric acid," she added.

The Minister said the government is taking steps to revive production in these industries, which include measures relating to policy, procedures, improving infrastructure and ensuring availability of required inputs.

Replying to a separate question, the Minister said India is not a participant in the ITA-2 (Information Technology Agreement) negotiations.

India was part of the ITA-I pact and according to experts, it had a negative impact on the domestic electronics hardware sector. The first ITA was signed in 1997.