New Delhi: The growth of eight key infrastructure sectors slowed to a 15-month low of 3.6% in January, on account of poor performance of sectors like refinery products, fertiliser, steel and electricity, according to the official data released on Thursday. The growth of eight core sectors — coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertiliser, steel, cement and electricity — was 4.9% in December.
It was 9.7% in January 2023.
The previous low level of growth rate was recorded at 0.9% in October 2022.
Cumulatively also, the growth rate in the output of these sectors slowed down to 7.7% as against 8.3% in April-January 2022-23.
The output growth of refinery products and fertiliser was in the negative zone. And the pace of increase in the output of coal, steel, and electricity decelerated during the month under review.
However, crude oil, natural gas, and cement production recorded positive growth in January.
The eight core sectors contribute 40.27% to the country’s Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
