The cumulative growth rate of six core infrastructure industries— crude petroleum, refinery petroleum products, coal, electricity, cement and cement—during April-September this year also dropped to 6.6 per cent as against 8.7 per cent during corresponding period of previous year, latest data show.
This distinct drop in growth rate of six key infrastructure industries, which account for a combined weight of 26.7 per cent in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), has come close on the heel of sharp fall in growth rate of overall industrial production.
Worst performance
The industrial production growth nearly halved to 6.4 per cent in September this year with manufacturing sector— especially the consumer durables segment—showing signs of slowdown. Among six core infrastructure industries, crucial crude petroleum sector showed worst performance by recording a negative growth of 0.7 per cent in September this year compared to a growth rate of 9.4 per cent in same month last year.
The crude petroleum production registered mere growth of 0.7 per cent during April-September 2007-08 compared to 4.1 per cent during same period of 2006-07. Similarly, petroleum refinery production registered a growth of 6.9 per cent in September this year.
