Eight core industries growth rises to 7.5% in October - Moneycontrol.com

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The combined output of eight core industries has surged by 7.5 percent in October, as compared to the same period last year, showed the official data released on November 30.

The cumulative output, apart from registering a year-on-year growth, has also marked a sequential growth as the core industries grew by 4.4 percent in September 2021.

"The combined Index of Eight Core Industries stood at 136.2 in October 2021, which increased by 7.5 per cent (provisional) as compared to the Index of October 2020," the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in an official release.

"The production of coal, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity industries increased in October 2021 over the corresponding period of last year," it added.

The above industries, along with crude oil, constitute the eight core industries. They comprise 40.27 percent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

The highest growth, in October, was recorded in natural gas production as it increased by 25.8 per cent over the same period last year. Its cumulative index increased by 22.6 per cent during April-October 2021 over the corresponding period of previous year.

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Coal production surged by 14.6 percent as compared to the same period a year ago, with its cumulative index increasing by 12.2 percent during April-October 2021 as compared to the same period of year 2020.

Petroleum refine production increased by 14.4 percent in October, and its cumulative index increased by 11.7 percent during April-October 2021.

Among other core industries, cement production increased by 14.5 percent in October, electricity by 2.8 percent, fertiliser production grew marginally by 0.04 percent and steel by 0.9 percent.

Crude oil was the only core industry that recorded a negative growth last month, as its production declined by 2.2 percent. Its cumulative index also declined by 2.8 per cent during April-October 2021 as compared to the same six-month period of last year.

"In YoY terms, the pace of growth varied widely across the eight core sectors, with cement, coal, natural gas and petroleum refinery products displaying a double-digit expansion, whereas the rise in electricity, steel and fertilisers was sub-3 percent and crude oil output contracted," said Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist, ICRA.

"With a mixed trend displayed by most early indicators that are available for November 2021, we expect the core sector growth to slip to under 5% for this month," Nayar added.

Notably, the official data released by the government also showed that the combined growth rate of eight core industries during April-October 2021 was 15.1 percent higher as compared to the corresponding period last year.

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Eight core industries growth rises to 7.5% in October - Moneycontrol.com
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