8 infra sectors’ Oct growth crashes to 3.2% from 9%

The growth rate of eight core sectors industries slowed to 3.2 per cent in October from a year earlier on account of a sharp drop in crude oil and steel production. The eight core industries — coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity — with a total weight of nearly 38 per cent in IIP had grown at 9 per cent in the same month last year.

The growth rate in September too was 3.2 per cent. The cumulative growth rate in April-October of 2015-16 came in at 2.5 per cent, much lower than 5.6 per cent in the first seven months of the last fiscal.

According to data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry today, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products and steel recorded negative growth in October. Crude oil and steel production fell by 2.1 per cent and 1.2 per cent, respectively, from a growth of 1 per cent and 14.2 per cent a year ago.

Similarly, output of natural gas and refinery products declined 1.8 per cent and 4.4 per cent, respectively. In contrast, coal, fertiliser, cement and electricity notched up a positive growth rate during the month under review. Coal, fertiliser, cement and electricity generation grew 6.3 per cent, 16.2 per cent, 11.7 per cent and 8.8 per cent, respectively. 

Meanwhile, fiscal deficit in the first seven months of the current fiscal reached Rs 4.11 lakh crore, or 74 per cent, of the Budget estimate (BE) for the whole year. The fiscal situation in April-October showed improvement over the year ago period as the deficit then stood at 89.6 per cent of the Budget estimate of 2014-15. The fiscal deficit - gap between government’s expenditure and revenue - for 2015-16 has been pegged at Rs 5.55 lakh crore. As per the data released by the Controller General of Accounts, tax revenue came in at Rs 4.28 lakh crore, or 46.6 per cent, of the full year BE of Rs 9,19,842 crore.

Total receipts from revenue and non-debt capital of the government during the first seven months read Rs 6.10 lakh crore. The government estimates Rs 12.21 lakh crore receipts at end-March 2016. The government’s Plan expenditure during the period was Rs 2.70 lakh core, 58.2 per cent of the full-year BE. During the same period last year, the government had managed to achieve 46.4 per cent of Plan expenditure estimate.

The non-Plan expenditure during April-October of 2015-16 was Rs 7.50 lakh crore, or 57.2 per cent, of the whole-year estimate.

The total expenditure (Plan and non-Plan) was Rs 10.21 lakh crore as against the government’s estimate for the current fiscal at Rs 17.77 lakh crore. The revenue deficit during the seven months period stood at Rs 2.87 lakh crore, or 72.9 per cent, of BE for 2015-16. For 2015-16, the government aims to restrict fiscal deficit to Rs 5.55 lakh crore, or 3.9 per cent of GDP.