India's core sector growth slows to 5.2% in March from 7.1% in February

Commerce Ministry released core sector growth figures for March 2024 on April 30

India's eight core sectors posted a growth of 5.2 percent in March, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on April 30.

Though the growth in India's core sector during the previous month was slower compared to February 2024, which came in at 7.1 percent, it was higher than March 2023 at 4.2 percent.

The output of the eight core sectors, which includes coal, crude oil, steel, cement, electricity, fertilisers, refinery products, and natural gas was 7.5 percent in 2023-24 lower year-on-year as against 7.8 percent in 2022-23.

The fall in core sector growth in March was due to five of the eight sectors seeing their output either contract or grow at a slower pace compared to the previous month, with crude oil production posting a growth of just 2 percent compared to 7.9 percent in February 2024.

The performance of the eight sectors in March 2024 is as follows:

>> coal output up 8.7 percent as against 11.6 percent in February

>> natural gas output up 6.3 percent as against 11.3 percent in February

>> refinery products output down 0.3 percent as against growth of 2.6 percent in February

>> fertiliser output down 1.3 percent as against a contraction of 9.5 percent in February

>> steel output up 5.5 percent as against 9.1 percent in February

>> cement output up 10.6 percent as against 9.1 percent in February

>> electricity output up 8.0 percent as against 7.5 percent in February

The slower increase in core sector output in March means industrial growth, as per the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), may also edge lower as the eight core industries make up more than 40 percent of the weight of the IIP.

Data on the IIP growth for March will be released on May 12. In February, IIP had risen to 5.7 percent from 4.14 percent in January.