Infrastructure sector records lower growth

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 28. Mirroring the trend in industrial production, six infrastructure industries including coal, steel and crude petroleum, have registered a lower growth rate of 3.1 per cent in August as compared to 10.9 per cent achieved in the same month last year.

The cumulative growth rate during the first five months of current financial year also dipped to 6.6 per cent from 7.9 per cent in the corresponding period last year, according to review of production performance of six infrastructure industries released by the Government.

The six industries, namely, electricity, coal, steel, crude petroleum, petroleum refinery products and cement, account for 26.68 per cent in the index of industrial production (IIP).

An analysis of production data for August in comparison to August 1999 shows that electricity grew by 0.6 per cent this year compared to 9.1 per cent in August last year.

The growth in steel production declined to 6.3 per cent in August this year as compared to 15 per cent registered in the same month in 1999. The cumulative growth rate during April-August this year was 9.4 per cent against 13.2 per cent last year.

The performance of the cement industry was the worst as the sector registered a negative growth rate of 2.3 against a robust performance of 16.1 per cent in August last year. The five month performance also exhibited similar trend with growth dipping to 3.2 per cent this year as against 19.8 per cent in April-August last year.

The only exception was the coal sector which registered a higher growth rate of 4.3 per cent in August as against 0.5 per cent in the same month in 1999. During April-August, the coal sector grew at 7.6 per cent against the negative growth of 1.6 per cent in the same period last year, the statement said.

Crude petroleum and petroleum refinery products also registered a lower growth rates of 0.1 per cent and 14.2 per cent respectively in August this year as compared to 4.1 per cent and 28.4 per cent growth registered in August 1999.

- PTI

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