Core sectors log flat growth in Oct

Major segments lag in the negative

The eight industries — crude oil, petroleum refinery products, natural gas, fertilisers, coal, electricity, cement and finished steel— have a weight of 37.90 per cent in the overall Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

Barring electricity, cement and steel, all the remaining segments registered negative growth in October 2011.

Electricity and steel output grew by 4.9 per cent and 3.8 per cent in October against 8.5 per cent and 13.4 per cent respectively in the same month last year, according to the provisional data released on Wednesday.

No growth was recorded in cement production in October, while the same was 18.5 per cent in the year-ago month.

Coal and crude oil production contracted by 9 per cent and 0.9 per cent respectively in the month under the review against 0.7 per cent and 13.7 per cent expansion in the comparable period last year.

Natural gas and petroleum refinery products coal output contracted by 7.4 per cent and 2.8 per cent in October 2011 respectively.

In the same month last year, the sectors had witnessed a growth of 6.5 per cent and (-) 4.8 per cent.

Fertiliser output declined by 2.1 per cent in October. It was (-) 0.2 per cent in the same period last year.

During April-October 2011-12, the growth of core industries slowed down to 4.3 per cent from 5.9 per cent in the same quarter last year.