Core sector growth slows to 2.1% in Dec

New Delhi :  Poor performance of coal, petroleum refinery products and natural gas pulled down the core sector growth to 2.1 % in December, 2013 from 7.5 % in the same month a year ago.          It is, however, better than in the previous two months.

The eight core industries had contracted by 0.6 % in October and grew by a modest 1.7 % in November.             The core sector growth is 2.5 % during the April- December period of this fiscal compared to 6.8 % in the same period of 2012-13. The infrastructure industries–fertilisers, cement, steel, electricity, crude, coal, petroleum refinery products and natural gas — have a weight of about 38 % in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).