Infrastructure growth slows down to 2.6 per cent

According to data released by the commerce and industry ministry, the aggregate growth of crude petroleum, refinery, coal, electricity, cement and finished steel slipped to 2.6 per cent in July from 4.7 per cent in June, 4.0 per cent in May and 3.9 per cent in April this fiscal. The main reason for low growth in infrastructure was the fall in electricity generation by 1.9 per cent in July compared to a growth of 6.0 per cent in the year-ago month.

Crude petroleum production also grew sluggishly by 0.4 per cent last month compared to 8.6 per cent in July 2002, while coal output was up by only 2.7 per cent compared to 12.6 in the last year. Growth in cement sector was only 3.4 per cent last month compared to 23.4 per cent in the year-ago period, while finished steel output was up by 7.7 per cent compared to 14.4 per cent in last year. The only silver lining was the petroleum refinery sector which recorded higher 7.5 per cent growth last month compared to 5.4 per cent in July 2002. All the six core sectors also recorded lower growth during April-July this year while crude petroleum output fell by 1.5 per cent during the first four months compared to 7.6 per cent in April-July 2002.

Petroleum refinery production was lower at 2.1 per cent in the four months compared to 6.1 per cent in the same period last year.

Electricity generation grew by 2.7 per cent till July compared to 4.2 per cent in the year-ago period. Coal sector growth dipped to 3.4 per cent during the early months compared to 8.0 per cent in April-July 2002. Cement production grew by 4.5 per cent till July this fiscal, compared to 11.5 per cent in the year ago period. Growth in finished steel production also came down to 7.6 per cent during the first four months compared to 10.5 per cent in April-July 2002.