India's core sector growth drops to a 16-month low in November

January 1, 2019

The data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industries has shown that the growth in the eight core sectors of the economy fell to a 16-month low of 3.5 per cent in November. The eight core sectors are coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizer, steel, cement and electricity.

Growth of Core Sectors

The following observations can be made from the data of the Ministry of Commerce and Industries:

The growth in the eight core sectors of the economy fell to a 16-month low of 3.5 per cent in November, after it had hit a three-month high of 4.8 per cent in October.
The cement production saw growth reduce by more than half in November.
In the steel sector, the output registered a 6 per cent rise in November.
The 3.7 per cent growth in coal production was a three-month low.
The growth in electricity generation also halved to 5.4 per cent in November.
Crude oil output contracted by 3.5 per cent.
The natural gas production managed to barely make it back to the growth charts with 0.5 per cent
The output of the fertiliser sector contracted by a significant 8 per cent.

Economists contribute the slowdown to the unfavourable base effect, along with a sudden slowdown in the growth of cement production and electricity output.