Pulled down by lower-than-expected performance in coal and steel, the eight core industries’ output grew 1.1 per cent in July.
This July print was much lower than the 3 per cent growth seen in June this year and 4.1 per cent recorded in July last year.
The eight core industries – coal, cement, steel, refinery products, electricity, crude oil, natural gas and fertilisers – account for 38 per cent of the index of industrial production.
While coal output grew a modest 0.3 per cent (6.3 per cent in June), steel output contracted 2.6 per cent (growth of 4.9 per cent in June).
Both fertilisers and electricity output grew at robust pace at 8.6 per cent (5.79 per cent) and 3.5 per cent (0.2 per cent) respectively.
In July last year, fertilisers output had contracted 4.2 per cent and electricity generation grew 11.8 per cent.
Meanwhile, the core industries output for April-July period grew 2.1 per cent, much lower than the 5.5 per cent growth seen in same period last year, official data released on Monday showed.