Core Industries Growth Falls to 3.1 Percent in December
Tuesday, 31 January 2012, 16:35 IST
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New Delhi: India's core industries that include electricity, coal, cement, steel and crude oil, registered a slower 3.1 percent growth in December as compared to 6.8 percent in the previous month and 6.3 percent in the corresponding month of last year, official data showed. Cumulative growth of eight core industries, which has 37.9 percent weightage in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), was 4.4 percent in April to December period as compared to 5.7 percent during the corresponding period of previous year, according to data released by the ministry of commerce and industry here. The slower growth in core industries dampens hopes of a significant rebound in factory production in December. Core industries have led to a significant turnaround in factory output in November. These industries had registered a growth of 6.8 percent in November, leading to a 5.9 percent growth in overall factory output. The factory output, measured in terms of IIP, had increased by 5.9 percent in November as against the 5.1 percent contraction in the previous month. Core industries had registered a growth of just 0.3 percent in October, leading to a contraction in overall factory output. Natural gas production contracted by 10.8 percent in December, while the production of crude oil fell by 5.6 percent. Electricity generation, which has 10.32 percent weight in the IIP, grew by 8 percent in December 2011, as compared to 5 percent growth registered during the corresponding month of previous year. Cumulative growth of electricity generation in April to December period is 9.2 percent as compared to 4.7 percent in the corresponding period of last year. Petroleum and refinery products and fertilizers production both registered a growth of 0.8 percent each. Steel production grew by 2.2 percent in the month under review as compared to 9.4 percent growth registered during the corresponding month of the previous year. Cement production, which has 2.41 percent weight in the IIP, registered a healthy growth of 13.3 percent in December 2011 as against a contraction of 2.2 percent in December 2010. The cumulative growth of cement production was 5.3 percent in April to December 2011-12 compared to its 4.4 percent growth during the same period of 2010-11.
Source: IANS
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