DeMo effect: Core industries’ growth slowed to 4.9% in Nov

NEW DELHI: Reflecting some impact of the governments recent demonetisation drive the output of eight infrastructure industries in November 2016 increased by 49 per cent but fell sequentially as compared to the 66 per cent growth logged in October official data showed on Monday

Updated At : 05:58 AM Jan 03, 2017 IST

TNS & Agencies

New Delhi, January 2

Reflecting some impact of the government’s recent demonetisation drive, the output of eight infrastructure industries in November 2016 increased by 4.9 per cent, but fell sequentially as compared to the 6.6 per cent growth logged in October, official data showed on Monday.

The Eight Core Industries (ECI) grew in November at 4.9 per cent as compared to the same month of 2015 on the back of higher production of coal, steel and electricity.

The core sectors, which contribute 38 per cent to the total industrial production (IIP), expanded 4.9 per cent in April-November 2016 compared to 2.5 per cent growth in the same period of the last financial year, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry today.

The index includes sectors like coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel (alloy and non-alloy), cement and electricity.

Electricity generation, which has the highest weightage of 10.32 per cent in the IIP, edged up by 10.2 per cent in November, as compared with the corresponding month of 2015. Steel production, the second most important component with weightage of 6.68 per cent, increased by 5.6 per cent in the month under review.

Distilling of refinery products, the third most important component as per weightage, was higher by 2 per cent in October, as compared with the corresponding month of last year. However, extraction of crude oil, which has a 5.22 per cent weightage in IIP, decreased by 5.6 per cent during the month in consideration. Coal mining, with a 4.38 per cent weightage, increased by 6.4 per cent in November.

Cement production, which has the weightage of 2.41 per cent, increased marginally by 0.5 per cent in November 2016 over the same month of 2015. On the other hand, the sub-index for natural gas output, with a weightage of 1.71 per cent edged lower by 1.7 per cent during the month under consideration.

Fertiliser manufacturing, which has the least weightage of only 1.25 per cent rose by 2.4 per cent in November.