The output of India's eight core sectors of infrastructure, which is calculated by the Index of Eight Core Industries declined 8.5 per cent on-year to 117.6 in August, data released by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry showed. It was the sixth consecutive monthly contraction mainly on account of a decline in production of steel, refinery products and cement. the Index of Eight Core Industries had slipped 0.2 per cent in August 2019, the data showed. The eight sectors include coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizers, steel, cement and electricity. They account for 40.27 per cent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). Except for coal and fertilizers, the remaining sectors recorded negative growth in the month of August. During the April-August period, the eight core sectors contracted 17.8 per cent from the year-ago period, the data showed. The sectors had seen a rise of 2.5 per cent during the same period year ago.
