The growth of eight key infrastructure sectors slowed to 6.7 per cent in February Vs 7.4 per cent last February on account of poor performance of some sectors like fertiliser, according to official data released on Thursday. However, the growth rate is higher than January this year. However on a month-on-month comparison it rose to 3-month highs.
The growth of eight core sectors — coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertiliser, steel, cement and electricity — was 4.1 per cent in January.
Cumulatively also, the growth rate in the output of these sectors slowed to 7.7 per cent in April-January this fiscal against 8.2 per cent in April-February 2022-23.
The output growth of fertiliser was in the negative zone.
The eight core sectors contribute 40.27 per cent to the country’s Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist, Head – Research & Outreach, ICRA said, “The core sector growth improved to a three-month high 6.7% in February 2024, boosted by a sequential improvement being recorded by six of its eight constituents, other than fertilisers and steel, which may partly reflect the extra day in the leap month. Notably, while growth in steel output dipped only mildly and remained healthy at 8.5% in February 2024, the YoY contraction in the output of fertilisers deepened sharply to 9.5% from 0.6%. On a positive note, three of the eight core industries displayed a double-digit expansion in February 2024, namely, coal, cement and natural gas. “
Inputs from PTI