Infrastructure sector growth at 6 month high of 4.4% in May

The output of eight infrastructure sectors expanded by 4.4% in May, the highest growth rate in past six months, on the back of upsurge in production of coal and refinery products.

The output of eight core sectors had declined in the previous two months of March and April. The core sectors had expanded at a rate of 3.8% in May 2014.

The growth in May 2015 was driven by healthy output of coal (7.8%), refinery products (7.9%) and electricity generation (5.5%).

Crude oil production increased by 0.8% while steel and cement grew by 2.6%. Fertiliser output grew by 1.3%.

Natural gas, however, recorded a negative growth of 3.1% in May 2015.

In March and April, the eight sectors, which contribute 38% to overall industrial production, had declined by 0.1% and 0.4% respectively.

The core sectors' growth rate in May this year is the highest since November 2014, when these segments had expanded by 6.7%.

During April-May period of the current fiscal, the sectors' output expanded by 2.1% as against 4.7% in the same period last year.

The overall growth of eight core industries in the entire 2014-15 fiscal stood at 3.5% against 4.2% in the previous fiscal.

The growth rate of core sector industries was on a decline since November last year. It was 6.7% in November 2014, which fell to 2.4% in December 2014 and then to 1.8% in January and 1.4% in February.