NEW DELHI: With this, the overall growth during the seven-month period from April-October was 5.6 percent compared to two percent in the same period last year, according to data released Friday by the commerce ministry. During September, the growth of the six sectors comprising crude petroleum, petroleum products, coal, electricity, cement and finished steel had slid to a mere 1.7 percent from 6.9 percent in the previous month. The rebound in October was not only an improvement on the previous month but compared well with the same month during the last fiscal when only 2.6 percent growth had been recorded for the six sectors. Petroleum products led the growth in October with a robust 11.1 percent rise in demand compared to 2.8 percent in the same month last year. The overall growth during the seven-month period also witnessed a two-fold growth from 3.1 percent last year to 6.4 percent during the current fiscal. Demand for cement continues to be high with the push being given to road building and housing activities. The overall growth during April-October was a high 9.3 percent compared to 3.6 percent in the same period last year. During October also, there was a rise from 4.6 percent to 6.7 percent. The power sector reversed the negative growth of October last year to notch 7.4 percent growth while the April-October growth rose 2.7 percent to 4.0 percent. In the case of coal, there was a sizeable drop in demand in October from 9.2 percent last year to 3.7 percent, while demand for finished steel also showed a dip from 6.9 percent to 5.7 percent. For the seven-month period, both coal and finished steel showed good growth compared to last year, notching 4.6 percent in case of coal and 7.3 percent for steel.
Source: IANS