Eight infra sectors growth comes 7-month high in June

India's eight key infrastructure sectors rose a seven-month high of 6.7% year-on-year in June, propelled by expansion in coal, cement and refinery segments.

The sector which also includes fertiliser, steel, natural gas, electricity and crude oil had grown by just 1% in June last year, official data showed.

While coal sector grew by 11.5%, cement grew 13.2% and refinery activities by 12%. Electricity generation expanded 4% in the month under review.

Steel sector growth was lower than June last year, as it expanded only 4.4%, compared with last year June's 6% growth.

The fertiliser sector too grew by merely 1% but the last year there was decline in this sector.

Growth in crude oil, however, slipped to (-) 3.4% and natural gas to (-) 2.7% in June.

During the April-June quarter of the current fiscal, the eight core industries recorded a growth of 5.2%, against 2.5% in the same period last year.

The growth in core industries indicates a better performance by India's factory output in the coming month, as these eight sectors weigh more than 40% in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

A buoyed Finance Minister Piyush Goyal, who is also in charge of coal, re-tweeted the core sector number on the back of a handsome growth in the coal sector.

The expansion in the electricity generation was 4% in June, compared to 2.2% in the same month of the last fiscal.