Core industries grow 7.8 pc in July; IIP may improve

New Delhi, Aug 30 (PTI) On a day GDP growth showed
slowdown for the April-June quarter, 7.8 per cent expansion of
key infrastructure sectors in July was reassuring raising
hopes of improvement in industrial production.
The eight core infrastructure industries expanded by 7.8
per cent in July, against 5.7 per cent in the same period last
year, on healthy growth in electricity, steel and cement
production.
The core infrastructure industries had expanded by 5.2
per cent in the previous month.
The eight industries, crude oil, petroleum refinery
products, natural gas, fertilisers, coal, electricity, cement
and finished steel, have a weight of 37.90 per cent in the
overall Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
Experts said healthy expansion of core infrastructure
industries would push overall industrial output next month.
"The numbers are reflecting that it would have a positive
impact on the IIP in the coming months," Crisil Principal
Economist D K Joshi said. He, however, added: "The main
question here is that whether this expansion would be
sustained or not".
Indicating slowdown, the economic growth for April-June
was at 7.7 per cent, the lowest level in the last
one-and-a-half years.
Among the core industries, electricity, steel and cement
output grew by 13 per cent, 15.5 per cent and 10.6 per cent,
respectively in July, according to the provisional data
released today.
In the same month last year, electricity production had
grown by 4.2 per cent, while steel and cement sectors had
contracted by 2.9 per cent and 0.2 per cent, respectively.