The index of eight core industries declined by 1.5% to 126.3 in November, compared with the same month last year. The index remained unchanged during the April-November period, compared with the same period last year, according to government data published on Tuesday. The core industries account for 40.27% of the index of industrial production.
The dismal core sector figures come close on the heels of a slew of poor numbers, confirming a slowdown in the economy. The gross domestic product grew at 4.5% in the second quarter of the financial year ended September. The Reserve Bank of India expects the economy to grow at 5% this fiscal year, the slowest rate since Narendra Modi became the prime minister of the country in 2014.
The production of coal fell by 2.5% in November 2019 compared with the year ago period. Coal output during the April-November period declined by 5.3% over the corresponding period of the last fiscal.
READ: It’s a Catch-22 for finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman
Crude Oil production declined by 6% in November. The cumulative index declined by 5.9% in the April-November period over the same period last year. Natural gas production also fell by 6.4% in November. The cumulative index for the April-November period fell by 3.1% compared with the year ago period.
There was an uptick of 3.1% in the petroleum refinery production in November, while the cumulative output for the first eight months of the financial year fell by 1.1% over the corresponding period last year. The output of fertilisers recorded a 13.6% rise in November, while the cumulative index for the first eight months of the fiscal showed a 4% increase.
READ: Cooperatives can trigger growth in rural and urban economies
Steel production fell by 3.7% in November, while the cumulative output during April-November recorded a 5.2% increase during the same period last year. Cement output increased by 4.1% in November, even as its cumulative index fell by 0.02% during the April-November period.
Electricity generation slipped 5.7% in November over the same month last year. The cumulative index rose by 0.7% during the April-November period.