Eight core sectors grow by 5.1 pc in May; sharp revision in Apr numbers

The government has significantly revised eight core sector industries growth numbers for April even as the segments grew by 5.1 per cent in May on the back of healthy output in steel and electricity.

According to a commerce and industry ministry statement, the growth rate for these eight key sectors for April 2019 has been revised upward to 6.3 per cent from 2.6 per cent reported earlier mainly due to upward revisions in production of coal, crude oil, steel, cement and electricity.

After the revised numbers, the growth rate would be highest in the last ten months. Last time it was in July 2018, when these sectors grew by 7.8 per cent.

"The highest upward revision of 17.2 per cent has been in the production of steel for April, 2019, by Joint Plant Committee (JPC)," the statement said.

It added that the JPC has now included a product called 'HRPO' under the item 'CR coils' for reporting within the production of finished steel to include in the compilation of the index from April this year.

"This inclusion has significantly impacted the growth rate of steel for the months of April 2019 and May 2019. Further, JPC has also carried upward revision in production of HR coils and sheets of mild steel," the ministry said.

Further, according to the data released Monday, the eight core sector industries - coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertiliser, steel, cement and electricity - grew by 4.1 per cent in May last year.

Steel and electricity output increased by 19.9 per cent and 7.2 per cent, respectively, during the month under review.

However, crude oil, refinery products, and fertiliser were in the negative zone.

During April-May, the eight sectors grew by 5.7 per cent compared to 4.4 per cent in the same period last year.