Mumbai: Output of India's key infrastructure industries crashed by a further 5.8% in October, according to data released today by the commerce and industry ministry.
The eight core industries--coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement, and electricity--had seen their output fall by 5.1% in September. In October 2018, core sector had expanded by 4.8%. The core sector growth of (-)5.8% in October is a new series low.
The current core sector series goes back until April 2012. The contraction in October was driven by a fall in the output of six of the eight sectors--as opposed to seven in September--with the output of refinery products registering a marginal increase of 0.4% last month.
However, production of cement and electricity slumped by an even greater margin in October, dragging the overall growth figure deeper into red.
Cement output shrank 7.7% year-on-year in October compared with 2.0% in September, while electricity production tanked by 12.4%.
In September, electricity output had fallen 2.6%.
The only positive in October was the fertiliser industry, whose output growth more-than-doubled to 11.8%.
The performance of the core sector in October means the eight industries have as good as stagnated so far in 2019-20 (Apr-Mar), growing a mere 0.2% in the first seven months of the year.
In Apr-Oct 2018, core sector growth had been 5.4%.
The contraction in core sector output will continue to drag industrial growth lower. Having fallen 4.3% in September, industrial output in October will likely suffer further as these eight industries together account for 40.3% of the total weight of the Index of Industrial Production.
Data for October industrial growth is scheduled to be released on Dec 12.
