8 core sectors grow at a record 8.2% in June

This growth rate is the highest in the last five months for the key infrastructure sectors, which include coal, crude oil, steel, cement, electricity, fertilisers, refinery products, and natural gas.

The core sector growth for May was revised upwards to 5.0 percent from the initial figure of 4.3 percent.

However, in June 2022, the core sector had experienced a growth rate of 13.1 percent, primarily due to a favorable base effect.

During the first quarter of 2022-23 (April-June), the core sector growth stood at 5.8 percent, which marks a decline from the robust growth of 13.9 percent witnessed in the initial three months of the fiscal year.

The improvement in performance in June can be attributed to enhanced output growth in six out of the eight sectors.

Only the output growth in the fertiliser and cement sectors was slower in June compared to May on a year-on-year basis.

However, cement production still demonstrated impressive growth at 9.4 percent, and fertiliser output increased by 3.4 percent, although this was lower than the 9.7 percent growth witnessed in May.

In June, among the other six sectors that showed improved performance, crude oil output experienced a contraction of 0.6 percent, a slight improvement from the decline of 1.9 percent in May.

Electricity production recorded a growth of 3.3 percent in June, compared to a growth of 0.8 percent in May, while coal output witnessed a substantial increase of 9.8 percent. The sector with the highest growth rate was steel, with its output surging by 21.9 percent, double the growth rate of 10.9 percent seen in May.

Since the eight core industries constitute over 40 percent of the Index of Industrial Production, the overall industrial growth in June is expected to be in the range of 4-6 percent, despite the moderation observed in the year-on-year performance of several high-frequency indicators, according to experts.

India's industrial output had expanded by 5.2 percent in May, data released on July 12 showed. Data for June's industrial performance will be released on August 11.