Core sector growth at 5.1% on better electricity, steel output

The growth rate for these eight key sectors for April 2019 has been revised upward to 6.3 per cent from 2.6 per cent reported earlier mainly due to upward revisions in production of coal, crude oil, steel, cement and electricity, according to a PTI report quoting a Commerce Ministry statement.

Data released by the Ministry on Monday showed that the

overall index of these eight segments had grown by 4.1 per cent in May 2018. Growth in the electricity sector, which accounts for nearly 20 per cent of the index, accelerated 7.2 per cent in May 2019, up from 5.9 per cent in April. Growth in steel — which makes up 17.92 per cent of the index — still remained higher than the 6.7 per cent recorded in March, growing 19.9 per cent in May. Growth in this sector was 19 per cent in April.

Production of fertilisers, which had dropped 4.4 per cent in April as opposed to a growth of 4.3 per cent in March, continued to drop in May. However, the degrowth slowed to 1 per cent.

At the same time, refinery products, which make up nearly 30 per cent of the index, experienced a degrowth of 1.5 per cent, upsetting the positive trend of growth from March this year.

Coal, which accounts for 10.33 per cent, grew by a mere 1.8 per cent, continuing the trend of slowed growth in the sector after touching 9.1 per cent in March.

Cement, which accounts for 5.37 per cent of the index, grew slightly at 2.8 per cent in May after falling drastically to 2.3 per cent in April from 15.7 per cent in March.

The crude oil segment continued to drop, registering a degrowth of 6.9 per cent. This is the fourth month that oil production has fallen over by 6 per cent.