Core sector industrial production hits a 5-month low of 3.6% in March
03 May 2023
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Core sector industrial production in India, based on the combined Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI) recorded a growth of 3.6 per cent in March 2023, the slowest in the past five months, provisional figures released by the commerce ministry showed.
The decline in the growth rate was due mainly to a dip in the production of crude oil, cement and electricity, although production of fertilisers, coal, steel, refinery products and natural gas increased in March 2023 compared with the corresponding month of last year.
The eight core sector industries, comprising coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizers, steel, cement and electricity, having a combined weight of 40.27 per cent in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), recorded a growth of 7.6 per cent in April-March 2022-23, provisional data showed.
Final growth rate of Index of Eight Core Industries for December 2022 now stands revised to 8.3 per cent from its provisional level 7.4 per cent.
Coal production, which has a weight of 10.33 per cent in the general index of industrial production (IIP), increased by 12.2 per cent year-on-year in March 2023 while cumulative coal production increased by 14.8 per cent during 2022-23 over the previous financial year.
Production of crude oil (weight of 8.98 per cent in IIP) declined by 2.8 per cent in March 2023 while its cumulative production declined by 1.7 per cent during 2022-23 over the previous fiscal.
Production of natural gas (weight of 6.88 per cent in IIP) increased by 2.8 per cent in March 2023 while its cumulative production increased by 1.6 per cent during 2022-23 over the previous fiscal.
Petroleum refinery production (weight of 28.04 per cent in IIP) increased by 1.5 per cent in March 2023 while its cumulative production increased by 4.8 per cent year-on-year in 2022-23.
Fertilizer production (weight of 2.63 per cent in IIP) increased by 9.7 per cent in March 2023 while its cumulative production increased by 11.3 per cent year-on-year during 2022-23.
Steel production (weight of 17.92 per cent in IIP) increased by 8.8 per cent in March 2023 while its cumulative production increased by 8.6 per cent year-on-year during 2022-23.
Cement production (weight of 5.37 per cent in IIP) declined by 0.8 per cent in March 2023 while its cumulative production increased by 8.6 per cent year-on-year during 2022-23.
Electricity generation (weight of 19.85 per cent in IIP) declined by 1.8 per cent in March 2023 while its cumulative production increased by 8.9 per cent during 2022-23 over the corresponding period of previous year.
