Growth in India’s core industries slowed from 4.5% y/y in February to 2.5% y/y in March. The core industries include eight sectors: cement, steel, fertilizer, electricity, crude oil, coal, natural gas and petroleum refinery products. Together, these industries account for approximately 38% of the country’s industrial output.
In March 2014, the natural gas and fertilizer sectors declined by 9.3% y/y and 6.1% y/y, respectively. These two core industries also suffered from a contraction in February, when output dropped by 4.4% y/y and 0.7% y/y. The production of crude oil also fell in March, down 1.6% y/y.
Production of coal (0.7%), steel (5.4%) and petroleum refinery products (2.8%) also slowed during the month when compared to the corresponding period in 2013.
Cement output, which increased by 1.5% y/y in January and 2.3% y/y in February, remained unchanged. Electricity generation grew by 5.4% in March 2014 compared to 3.5% in March 2013.
For the fiscal year ending in March 2014, growth in the eight core sectors slowed to 2.6% down from 6.5% the previous year.
Edited from various sources by Louise Fordham