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NEW DELHI, Aug. 21

EVEN as the economy faces the prospect of a sharp decline in agricultural production due to the monsoons playing truant this year, there is continued good news flowing on the industrial front. The official index of the six `core' infrastructure industries has notched up a healthy 6.6 growth rate during April-July 2002, as against 1.1 per cent in the same quarter of the previous fiscal.

The core infrastructure index, which rose by five per cent in April 2002 (against 0.1 per cent in April 2001), 5.3 per cent in May 2002 (1.8 per cent), 5.8 per cent in June 2002 (0.8 per cent), sustained its buoyancy during July as well, growing by a whopping 9.3 per cent compared to 0.8 per cent in the same month last year.

The overall 6.6 per cent growth for April-July 2002 was mainly powered by cement. Cement production, which grew marginally from 353.40 lakh tonnes (lt) in April-July 2000 to 353.41 lt in April-July 2001, registered a further growth of 11.5 per cent, touching 394.06 lt in the first four months of the current fiscal.

Output of refined petro-products rose by 6.1 per cent from 325.04 lt in April-July 2001 to 344.92 lt in April-July 2002, while amounting to 308.43 lt in April-July 2000. Production of crude petroleum in April-July 2002, at 110.11 lt, too, was 7.5 per cent higher than the 102.41lt figure for April-July 2001 and 107.29 lt for April-July 2000.

Among the other industries, production of coal during April-July 2002, at 1,018 lt, stood 8.1 per cent higher than the 942 lt figure for April-July 2001 and 939 lt for April-July 2000, while finished steel output surged by 7.8 per cent to touch 107.807 lt during April-July 2002, from 100.004 lt and 99.957 lt achieved in the corresponding first four months of the preceding two fiscals.

The country's total electricity production during April-July 2002 was assessed at 174.634 billion units (kilowatt-hours), which was 4.2 per cent higher than the 167.585 billion units generated during the same period last year and the 162.777 billion units of April-July 2002.

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