Core sector growth slows down to 1% in February

New Delhi: The growth of eight core sectors slowed down to 1 percent in February mainly due to contraction in output of crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertiliser and cement.

The growth rate of eight infrastructure sectors of coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity was 9.4 percent in February last year.

It is also lower than that of 3.4 percent seen in January this year.

The core sectors, which contribute 38 percent to the total industrial production, expanded 4.4 percent in April - February this fiscal, according to the data released by the commerce and industry ministry on Friday.

The output of refinery products, fertiliser and cement contracted by 2.3 percent, 5.3 percent and 15.8 percent, respectively during the month under review.

Crude oil output also declined by 3.4 percent in February 2017 against a growth of 0.7 percent in the same month of previous year.

Similarly, natural gas output decreased by 1.7 percent during the month under review.