Infrastructure output grows at 2.6% in August

The Dollar Business Bureau

India's infrastructure sector output grew by 2.6% in August 2015 despite a sharp decline in steel production, according to the data released by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry. The infrastructure sector constitutes nearly 38% of India's total industrial output. Of the eight core sectors, fertilizer production witnessed the maximum increase of 12.6 %, mainly due to the growing domestic demand. “Coal production (weight: 4.38 %) increased by 0.4 % in August, 2015 over August, 2014. Its cumulative index during April to August, 2015-16 increased by 4.6 % over corresponding period of previous year,” the data said. Crude oil production went up by 5.6 % in August this year over the same month of last year. The output of cement grew by 5.4 % during last month and it is likely to grow at a good pace in future.  Petroleum refinery outputs registered a growth rate of 5.8 % in August 2015 over the same month last year. The country’s natural gas production also recorded a growth of 3.7 % in August compared to the last year period. Steel remained the only segment that witnessed a decline. Its production fell by 5.9% in August 2015 over August 2014, primarily due to less demand and dumping of cheaper steel by many Asian countries including China. Its production grew at 5.6% in July 2015. Electricity generation increased by 5.6 % in August, 2015 over the corresponding month of 2014. During the last financial year, the overall growth of eight core industries was recorded at 3.5%, as against 4.2% in 2013-14.  

October 1st, 2015 | 4:30pm IST.