Eight core sectors' growth rate slows to 0.2% in June

New Delhi: Growth of eight core industries dropped to 0.2 per cent in June, mainly due to contraction in oil-related sectors and cement output, according to official data. The government also revised downwards the growth rate of these eight sectors for May to 4.3 per cent from the earlier estimate of 5.1 per cent.

The eight core sector industries — coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertiliser, steel, cement and electricity — had expanded by 7.8 per cent in June last year. These core industries comprise 40.27 per cent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). Crude oil output, which has shown negative growth in the past one year, contracted by 6.8 per cent in June, as per data of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

The output of 'refinery products' too registered de-growth for the second month in a row. The contraction was 9.3 per cent in June 2019 as against a growth of 12.1 per cent in the year-ago period.

The natural gas segment too posted a de-growth in June. Cement production, which was showing growth in the previous months, slipped into the negative zone. As per the data, the segment posted a contraction of 1.5 per cent during the month under review.

However, steel and electricity production showed a growth of 6.9 per cent and 7.3 per cent, respectively. The fertilisers segment also posted a growth of 1.5 per cent in June, reversing the de-growth registered in the previous two months.