(HT)
Annual growth in eight key infrastructure sectors, as measured by the combined Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI), recovered slightly in March after February’s five-month low, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on April 21. The March reading came in at 3.8%, up from a revised reading of 3.4% in March. On a month-on-month basis, the index grew by 11.5%.
The eight sectors counted in the index are coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizers, steel, cement, and electricity. Growth in electricity, which has the second-highest weightage in the index of 19.9%, came in at 6.2% up from 3.6% in February. Growth in refinery products, with highest weightage of 28% in the index, slowed to 0.25 from 0.8% in February. The other sectors which posted a higher growth rate than in February were steel and cement. Steel, with a weight of 17.9%, grew at 7.1% and cement, with a weight of 5.4%, grew at 11.6%. Crude oil & natural gas with weights of 9% and 6.9%, continued to contract at 1.9% and 12.7%, respectively. Growth in coal was 1.6%, almost unchanged from February. Fertilisers, having the least weightage in the index, grew at 8.8% down from 10.2% in February.
