India’s core sectors grew 5% in March this year

The Dollar Business Bureau 

Supported by the higher production of steel and coal, the eight core sectors in India grew by 5% in the month of March, a fastest growth in the past three months. 

The rate of growth of eight infrastructure industries, i.e., steel, coal, natural gas, crude oil, refinery products, fertilisers, electricity and cement, was relatively low compared to 9.3% recorded in the same month last year.

According to the data released by the government on Monday, coal production grew by 10% in the said month compared to 2.5% in the previous year. 

The production of steel, both alloy and non-alloy, increased by 11% in March whereas it had increased by 7.8% in the same period in 2016. 

Electricity production was up by 5%. Natural gas and crude oil production was 8.3%, 0.9%, respectively, on year-on-year basis. 

However, the production of cement dropped by 6.8% in March 2017 and fertiliser production declined by 0.8%. There was also a drop of 0.3% in the production of refinery products. 

The core sectors, which contributed 38% to the overall industrial production the country, had grown by 1% in the month of February and 3.4% in March. The growth rate was recorded at 5.6% in December last year. 

On collective basis, infrastructure sectors expanded by 4.5% in the last fiscal ended March 2017, compared to 4% in the previous financial year.