India’s eight core industries grow 3.6% in May

India’s eight core industries grow 3.6% in May

10th july 2018

Growth of India’s eight core industries slowed to 3.6% for the month of May, down from 4.7% in April. Cumulative growth for the period ended March 2018 was 4.1%.
The eight core sectors include coal, crude oil, natural gas, petro-refinery products, fertiliser, cement, electricity and steel industries comprise 40.27% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
“It is disappointing in the sense that it is slower than the trend growth that we have observed even in the last year,” said D K Joshi, chief economist, CRISIL, and added that a single month’s data was not enough, and that he would wait for a few more months to read more into the performance of these industries.
He added that the overall automobile segment has performed well over the last four-five months and given the thrust on construction and what the GDP numbers showed, steel and cement should also be doing well.
Driven by an uptick in the manufacturing sector, the general index of industrial production rose to 4.9% in April, compared to last year, in line with the estimates from the CNBC-TV18 poll.
The IIP for the month of April rose to 123.0, from 117.3 in the corresponding period last year, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation said.
The cumulative growth for the 11-month period of April-March is at 4.3%.
Coal:
Coal production (weight: 10.33%) increased by 12.1% in May 2018 over May 2017. Its cumulative index increased by 14.0% during April to May, 2018-19 over corresponding period of the previous year.
Petro-refinery products:
Petroleum refinery production (weight: 28.04%) increased by 4.9% in May 2018 over May 2017. Its cumulative index increased by 3.9% during April to May, 2018-19 over the corresponding period of previous year.
Crude Oil:
Crude Oil production (weight: 8.98%) declined by 2.9% in May 2018 over May 2017. Its cumulative index declined by 1.9% during April to May, 2018-19 over the corresponding period of previous year.
Natural Gas:
The Natural Gas production (weight: 6.88%) declined by 1.4% in May 2018 over May 2017. Its cumulative index increased by 2.0% during April to May, 2018-19 over the corresponding period of previous year.
Fertilizers:
Fertilizers production (weight: 2.63%) increased by 8.4% in May 2018 over May 2017. Its cumulative index increased by 6.6% during April to May, 2018-19 over the corresponding period of previous year.
Steel:
Steel production (weight: 17.92%) increased by 0.5% in May 2018 over May 2017. Its cumulative index increased by 2.1% during April to May, 2018-19 over the corresponding period of previous year.
Cement:
Cement production (weight: 5.37%) increased by 5.2% in May 2018 over May 2017. Its cumulative index increased by 10.7% during April to May, 2018-19 over the corresponding period of previous year.
Electricity:
Electricity generation (weight: 19.85%) increased by 3.5% in May 2018 over May 2017. Its cumulative index increased by 2.8% during April to May, 2018-19 over the corresponding period of previous year.
Source: CNBC TV 18