Key infrastructure industries registered a sluggish growth of 3.7 per cent in August, leading to apprehensions that it may pull down the country’s overall industrial output for the month. The growth rate was 6.4 per cent in August 2009.
The six core industries -- crude oil, petroleum refinery products, coal, electricity, cement and finished steel -- had registered 4 per cent growth in July this year.
The expansion of infrastructure industries has an impact on industrial growth, as they contribute over one- fourth (26.7 pr cent) to the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). The IIP data for August would be released next month. The IIP in July was 13.8 per cent.
“This is not a good sign for a sustainable growth. The lower (core sector data) numbers would pull down the IIP of August,”Crisil Principal Economist D K Joshi said. He said the slow growth in cement, coal and electricity was reflecting sluggish construction activities.
