The Hindu Business Line : Infrastructure growth slows in Oct

INFRASTRUCTURE growth slowed to 4.9 per cent in October from 15.9 per cent a year ago, mainly due to the fall in the output of crude petroleum and refinery products, according to government data released here on Tuesday.

The six core sectors — crude petroleum, refinery, coal, electricity, cement and steel — together grew 4.6 per cent during April-October 2005 compared to a 6.8 per cent growth in the corresponding previous period.

The infrastructure output in October was, however, marginally higher than the 2.4 per cent growth posted in September 2005.

On a disaggregated basis, crude petroleum production fell 7.1 per cent in October compared to a decline of 0.2 per cent during the same month last year. Crude output was down 5.2 per cent in the first seven months of this fiscal against a 3.6 per cent growth during the corresponding previous period.

Petroleum refinery production declined by 2.5 per cent in October compared to the 6.2 per cent growth in the same month in 2004.

In the April-October period, production fell by one per cent against a growth of 7.1 per cent in the same period last year.

Coal production increased by 5.8 per cent during the month under review compared to 11.8 per cent in October 2004.

The sector grew by 5.8 per cent in April-October compared to 6.6 per cent during the same period last fiscal.

Electricity generation in October grew 7.4 per cent against a growth of 3.5 per cent in the same month last year.

In April-October, the country generated 5.1 per cent more electricity against a 7.2 per cent growth recorded during the same period last year.

Cement production grew 8.6 per cent in October, lower than the 13.6 per cent growth in the same month last year.

During April-October, the growth in cement output was 11 per cent compared to 6 per cent in the same period last year.

In the case of finished steel, the growth was 6.9 per cent in October compared to 48.4 per cent in October 2004.

The growth in finished steel production was 7.4 per cent in the first seven months of 2005-06 against 7.7 per cent in the year ago period.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page