India’s eight infrastructure industries categorized as ‘core’ registered an overall growth of 8.4 percent in April this year, the highest in the last six months, according to government data released on Thursday, June 2.
The eight sectors - coal, steel, cement, fertilizers, electricity, natural gas, refinery products, and crude oil - comprise two-fifths of India’s total industrial production. Out of the eight sectors, apart from crude oil and steel, all registered positive growth in April on year-on-year basis.
Production of the coal, natural gas, refinery, fertilizer, electricity and cement sectors witnessed an increase of 28.8 percent, 6.4 percent, 9.2 percent, 8.7 percent, 8.0 percent and 10.7 percent, respectively as compared to last year. Steel output contracted by 0.7 percent year on year.