Aided by strong show in refinery products, the eight core industries’ output grew 3.2 per cent in July 2016. This was higher than 1.3 per cent growth recorded in same month last fiscal.
However, the latest core industries’ growth reading was much lower than the 5.2 per cent growth recorded in June this year.
The eight core industries — coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity — has weightage of 38 per cent in Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
For July 2016, refinery products output grew 13.7 per cent, higher than 3.5 per cent growth in the previous month and 2.9 per cent in July last year.
Coal production grew by 5.1 per cent, higher than the 0.1 per cent contraction in same month last year. Natural gas output grew robust 3.3 per cent, higher than the 4.4 per cent contraction in July 2015.
Steel worries Steel industry continued to be a picture of worry with output contraction of 0.5 per cent in July 2016 as against 2.4 per cent growth in the previous month.
While the cement sector output grew 1.4 per cent (10.3 per cent), electricity generation grew 1.6 per cent in July 2016 (8.1 per cent).