March infrastructure output grows fastest in 16 months

India's infrastructure output grew an annual 6.4% in March, its fastest pace in 16 months, mainly driven by higher electricity and fertiliser output, government data showed on Monday.

The output expanded 2.7% for the fiscal year 2015/16 that ended on March 31, compared with 4.5% growth in the previous fiscal year.

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Fertiliser output jumped 22.9% and electricity production grew 11.3% from a year earlier in March, the data showed.

Infrastructure accounts for nearly 38% of India's industrial output.

Union Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari had said last week that development of road infrastructure was a priority for the Modi government.

"When the government took over in 2014, highways accounted for only 96,000 km out of 52 lakh km road network in the country. Presently, we have 1,50,000 km of highways. The target is two lakh km of highways in the country," Gadkari said at the 2nd Indo-US Infrastructure Summit.

He said it will help divert 50 percent of the traffic from city to highways.

Gadkari said at present 20 km of roads are being constructed daily in the country.

"Our target is to construct 40 km of roads daily, which will be met in the next three years," he said.