June infrastructure growth slows to 0.01%

Growth in eight infrastructure industries plunged to 0.1 per cent in June mainly due to contraction in crude oil, natural gas, coal and electricity output.

The eight core industries had expanded at a rate of 7.9 per cent in the same period last year.

The contraction in production of coal, crude oil, natural gas and electricity in the month was 3 per  cent, 0.6 per cent, 16.7 per cent and 1.2 per cent, respectively, according to the government data.

The eight infrastructure industries have a weight of about 38 per cent in the overall industrial production.

Petroleum refinery production showed an expansion of 2.3 per cent. Steel production grew by 3.4 per cent, while cement output was up by 2.3 per cent in the review period.

During April-June period, the growth in eight infrastructure industries slowed to 1.6 per cent from 6.9 per cent in the same period last year.

The growth was 3.2 per cent in 2012-13 as against 5 per cent in the previous financial year.