Core sector industrial production in the country expanded 1.3 per cent in December 2019, after remaining in the negative for the last four months. That brought cumulative core sector production growth during April-December 2019-20 to 0.2 per cent.
Expansion in the eight core sector industries comprising coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertiliser, steel, cement and electricity, which carry nearly 40.27 per cent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), was dragged down by a decline in the production of crude oil, natural gas and electricity
Coal production, which has a weight of 10.33 per cent in the general index of industrial production (IIP), increased by 6.1 per cent in December 2019 while cumulative production of coal declined by 3.8 per cent during April-December 2019-20.
Production of crude oil (weight of 8.98 per cent in IIP) declined by 7.4 per cent in December 2019 while cumulative crude production declined by 6.0 per cent during April-December 2019-20.
Production of natural gas (weight of 6.88 per cent in IIP) declined by 9.2 per cent in December 2019 while its cumulative production declined by 3.8 per cent during April-December 2019-20.
Petroleum refinery production (weight of 28.04 per cent in IIP) increased by 3.0 per cent in December 2019 while its cumulative production declined by 0.6 per cent during April-December 2019-20.
Fertilizer production (weight of 2.63 per cent in IIP) increased by 10.2 per cent in December 2019 while its cumulative production increased by 4.7 per cent during April-December 2019-20.
Steel production (weight of 17.92 per cent in IIP) increased by 1.9 per cent in December 2019 while cumulative steel production increased by 5.2 per cent during April-December 2019-20.
Cement production (weight of 5.37 per cent in IIP) increased by 5.5 per cent in December 2019 while cumulative production of cement increased by 0.7 per cent during April-December 2019-20.
Electricity generation (weight of 19.85 per cent in IIP) declined by 1.6 per cent in December 2019 while cumulative generation of electricity increased by 0.5 per cent during April-December 2019-20.