India's core sector growth moderates to 3.7% in January: Govt data

Crude oil production contracted 2.4 per cent in January, the pace which is the highest in six months

Growth in eight-industry, core sector output dipped to 3.7 per cent in January against 4.1 per cent in the previous month, showing a mild effect of Omicron-induced region-specific lockdowns.

Even then, expansion in the index of industrial production (IIP) may rise in January against 0.4 per cent growth in December due to the favourable base effect of the previous year. The core sector has a bit over 40 per cent weighting in the IIP. This means the industrial sector may have escaped any major impact of the third Covid wave, which was milder than the previous two.

“The industrial sector appears to