India’s Core Sector Growth Rose to a Four-Month High of 4.3 PC in November

New Delhi: Driven by robust construction activity, India’s core sector growth rose to a four-month high of 4.3 percent in November as compared to 3.7 percent in October. The November month marks the third consecutive month of expansion in the eight core industries, with the cement output rising maximum to 13 per cent in the month under review, the government data showed on Tuesday.

As per the data, six of the eight sectors recorded an expansion in November, with cement, fertilisers and electricity sectors doing better even as coal held steady. “The cement industry expanded at the fastest pace in 13 months of 13 percent, rising from 3.1 percent growth in the previous month, while the coal sector held steady with 7.5 percent growth down from 7.8 percent in the previous month,” the data showed.

Sequentially, the data showed that coal was the one of the two sectors besides petroleum to record growth. Coal sector expanded 7.3 percent over the previous month, as the overall sector contracted by 3.3 percent in sequential terms. “Also, electricity growth picked up to 3.8 percent from 2 percent in the previous month, while fertiliser growth was 2 percent from 0.4 percent in October,” it showed.

As eight core sectors output has a 40 percent weight in the industrial production index, the expansion in core industries, especially cement in infrastructure activities, bodes well for the economy, which witnessed a growth slowdown to a seven-quarter low of 5.4 percent. This prompted the RBI and economists to lower their GDP forecast for the year.