Eight infrastructure industries posted a 7-month high growth rate of 3.7 percent in August on the back of good performance by power, cement, steel and fertiliser sectors.
The growth of the core sectors was, however, lower as compared to 6.1 percent recored in the same month last year, according to the official data released Monday.
The core industries, which also include coal, natural gas, refinery products and crude oil, having a weight of about 38 percent in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), grew at 3.7 percent January this year. The growth in output of the core sectors remained below this mark till July.
During the April-August period of 2013-14 fiscal, the growth of core industries has slowed to 2.3 percent from 6.3 percent in the same period during 2012-13.
Power generation grew by 6.7 percent in August as against a meagre 1.9 percent in the same month last year. It registered a cumulative growth of 4.1 percent during April to August this fiscal, compared to 4.9 percent in the same period in 2012-13.
Cement production grew by 5.5 percent in August compared to 0.4 percent in the same month last year. However, growth in the sector slowed down to 3.2 percent in April-August period this fiscal, compared to 8.3 percent in 2012-13.
The output of steel also grew by 4.3 percent in August as compared to 2.9 percent in the same month last year. The production was up by 4.1 percent in April-August period, compared to 2.8 percent in same period in previous fiscal.
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The fertiliser production grew by 1.7 percent in August as against a contraction of 2.1 percent in the same month last year. During the April-August period, the output grew by 1.8 percent compared to a contraction of 7.9 percent in the same period last fiscal.
Crude oil and natural gas production contracted by 1.5 percent and 16.1 percent respectively in August compared to decline in output by 0.6 percent and 13.5 percent in the same month last year.
During the April-August period, crude oil production declined by 1.6 percent as compared to a contraction of 0.6 percent in the output. Similarly the output of natural gas in the five month period contracted by 17 percent as compared to decline in production by 12 percent in the same period last year.
Petroleum refinery production expanded by 4.9 percent during the month, as against 31.8 percent in August 2012. During the first five month period of this fiscal, the output grew by 4.8 percent compared to 25.6 percent.
The production of coal grew by 5.5 percent in August as compared to 11.8 percent in the same month last year. During April-August, the production grew by 0.5 percent compared to 7.4 percent in the same period last fiscal.
PTI