Core sector output growth slows to 2.3% in April

Core sector industrial production in the country slackened to around 2.3 per cent in April 2013, from 2.9 per cent recorded in March, pulled down by negative growth in the production of crude oil, natural gas and fertilizer.

The eight core-sector industries comprising coal, crude oil, natural gas, petroleum refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity recorded production growth of 2.3 per cent in April 2012 against a growth rate of 5.7 per cent in April 2012.

The index of core sector industries (base 2004-05=100), which has a weight of 37.90 per cent in the general index of industrial production (IIP), stood at 152.2 in March 2013, showing a growth rate of 2.3 per cent year-on-year, official data released today showed.

Coal production having a weight of 4.38 per cent in the index of industrial production (IIP) recorded a growth of 3.1 per cent in April 2013 compared to its growth of 5.9 per cent in April 2012.

Coal production had recorded a growth of 3.4 per cent during 2012-13 compared to its 1.3 per cent growth during 2011-12.

Crude oil production (weight of 5.22 per cent in IIP) registered a negative (-) 1.2 per cent growth in April 2013 compared to its (-) 1.4 per cent growth in April 2012.

Crude production during 2012-13 registered a negative growth of (-) 0.6 per cent compared to its 1.0 per cent growth during 2011-12.

Natural gas production (weight of 1.71 per cent in IIP) was a negative (-) 17.4 per cent in April 2013 and (-) 11.3 per cent in April 2012.  Production growth was negative at (-) 14.5 per cent during 2012-13 and at (-) 8.9 per cent during 2011-12 as well.

Petroleum refinery production (weight of 5.94 per cent in IIP) grew 5.6 per cent in April 2013 compared to 20.8 per cent in April 2012, while production during 2012-13 was 8.6 per cent compared to its 3.1 per cent growth during 2011-12.

Fertilizer production (weight of 1.25 per cent in IIP) registered a growth of (-) 2.4 per cent in April 2013 compared to (-) 9.3 per cent in April 2012. Production grew at a negative (-) 3.4 per cent during 2012-13 compared to a 0.4 per cent growth during 2011-12.

Steel production (weight of 6.68 per cent in IIP) grew at a rate of 1.9 per cent in April 2013 against its 2.3 per cent growth in April 2012.  Its production recorded a growth of 2.5 per cent during 2012-13 compared to its 10.3 per cent growth during 2011-12.

Cement production (weight of 2.41 per cent of IIP) recorded a growth of 8.3 per cent in April 2013 against its 12.5 per cent growth in April 2012, which grew at 9.3 per cent during 2012-13 compared to its 6.7 per cent growth during 2011-12.

Electricity generation (weight of 10.32 per cent in IIP) recorded a 3.1 per cent growth in April 2013 compared to its 5.4 per cent growth in April 2012.
Electricity generation grew at 4.0 per cent during 2012-13 compared to its 8.1 per cent growth during 2011-12.