The growth rate eight core sectors which include coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity witnessed a decline as per the data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industries.
Reduced growth rate of Core Sector
- The core sector which had witnessed a 6.2% growth in January 2018 witnessed a growth rate of 1.8 % in January
- The decline in the output of crude oil, refinery products and electricity pulled down the growth of eight core sectors to 1.8 %.
- The declining trend which has been witnessed since October 2018 suggests continued weakness in industrial activities and a weak second half economic growth in the financial year 2018-19.
- Production of crude oil, refinery products and electricity contracted 4.3%, 2.6% and 0.4%, respectively.
- Coal and cement output slowed to 1.7% and 11% in January as against 3.8% and 19.6% in January 2018, respectively.
- Natural gas, fertilisers and steel output grew 6.2%, 10.5% and 8.2 % respectively.
- Higher fertiliser growth has been attributed to the negative base effect last year.
Sluggish core sector growth would impact the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) as these segments account for about 41 per cent of the total industry output.