The growth rate of eight core industries has slowed down to 3.1 per cent in December last year from 6.3 per cent in the same month previous year.
These eight core sectors have a combined weight of 37.9 per cent in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
The sectors that dragged down the growth in December last year due to a fall in output include crude oil, natural gas, petroleum refinery products and steel, while those which fared better include coal, fertiliser, cement and electricity.
These eight sectors had recorded a 6.8 per cent growth in November last year.
The growth of these eight sectors during April-December 2011 was 4.4 per cent against 5.7 per cent during the corresponding period in 2010, according to the data released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry on Monday.
Crude oil production growth contracted by 5.6 per cent in December last year, which is a steep fall from a positive 15.8 per cent growth in December 2010.
Crude oil production grew only 1.9 per cent during April-December 2011 against 12 per cent during the same period of 2010.
Natural gas production shrunk to 10.8 per cent in December 2011 compared to a negative growth of 0.2 per cent in December 2010.
The sector's growth had contracted to 8.8 per cent during April-December 2011 compared to 17.3 per cent growth during the same period of 2010.