New Delhi: Growth of eight infrastructure sectors slowed down to 4.3% in September, the lowest in the last four months, as production of crude oil and natural gas declined. Previously, the lowest growth rate was in May 2018 when the core sectors expanded at 4.1%.
Eight infrastructure sectors of coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity had grown by 4.7% in September 2017.
The output of crude oil and natural gas dipped by 4.2% and 1.8%, respectively in the month under review, according to data released by the commerce and industry ministry on Wednesday.
Fertiliser, cement and electricity output grew by 2.5%, 11.8%, and 8.2%, respectively.
However, the growth of coal, refinery products, and steel sectors declined to 6.4%, 2.5% and 3.2%, respectively, in September.
During April-September 2018, the core sector growth was 5.5%, against 3.2% in the year-ago period.
These eight segments comprise 40.27% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
(PTI)