Decline in production of crude oil leads to infra sector growth slowing down to 4.2% in August

 Growth of eight infrastructure sectors slowed down to 4.2% in August on account of decline in production of crude oil and fertiliser.

The core sectors had expanded by 7.3% in July 2018. The growth rate of eight infrastructure sectors of coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity was 4.4% in August 2017. The output of crude oil and fertiliser dipped by 3.7% and 5.3% respectively, according to the data released by the commerce and industry ministry on Monday. On the other hand, coal, natural gas, and electricity production grew by 2.4%, 1.1% and 5.4% respectively compared to 15.4%, 4.2%, and 8.3% respectively in August 2017.

Refinery products, steel and cement also recorded positive growth. During the April-August period of the current fiscal, these sectors grew by 5.5% as against 3% in the year-ago period. These eight segments comprise 40.27% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). Commenting on the figures, rating agency ICRA said that the slowdown in growth of core sector output and automobile production, as well as an unfavourable base effect, are likely to dampen the IIP growth for August to 3-4%.