Eight core infrastructure sector grows at 6.7% in January; cement, refinery output zoom

New Delhi: Eight infrastructure sectors grew a faster pace of 6.7 percent in January against 3.4 percent in the year-ago month as petroleum refinery and cement output zoomed while steel power and coal production improved. The eight core sectors – coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity – had grew by 4.2 percent in December and 7.4 percent in November this financial year. [caption id=“attachment_4371135” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] Petroleum refinery production spurted 11 percent in January against a flat output in the year-ago month. Cement output jumped 20.7 percent in the month against 13.3 percent contraction in the year-ago period. Electricity generation growth also fast paced to 8.2 percent in January against 5.2 percent in January 2017. Coal sector output improved by 3 percent and steel production by 3.7 percent in January 2018. Crude oil production however dropped 3.2 percent, fertilisers by 1.6 percent and natural gas by 1 percent in the month under review. Cumulatively, the growth in the eight core sectors during April-January this fiscal slowed to 4.3 percent as against 5.1 percent in the same period last fiscal. The growth in key sectors will have implications for the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) as these eight segments account for about 41 percent of the total factory output.