India’s core sector growth rose to 6.8% in November 2017, data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry showed on Monday. This is the highest growth registered in the 2017-’18 financial year.
India’s eight core industries – coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizers, steel, cement and electricity – comprise over 40% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production. The core sector had grown at a rate of 4.7% in October 2017.
Cement and steel were the biggest drivers of core sector growth in November. While cement production rose by 17.3% in November 2017 over November 2016, the growth rate for steel was 16.6%.
Crude oil production was up by 0.2%, natural gas production by 2.4%, petroleum refinery output by 8.2%, electricity by 1.9% and fertilizers by 0.3% in November 2017. The only core sector industry which reported a decline was coal, where the growth rate was a negative 0.2%.
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