The Hindu Business Line : Most sectors post growth in April-Oct

THE overall growth rate during the April-October 2005 period has come down in respect of most of the sectors as compared to the growth rate achieved during the same period last year.

However, only fertilisers and petroleum registered negative growth while all other sectors showed positive growth, according to an official release.

All sectors, except power, coal, finished steel, railways, cargo handled at major ports, fertilisers and crude oil exceeded their respective targets.

The total power generation in the country during April-October at 355.53 billion units was 1.3 per cent lower than the target for the period, but it recorded a growth of 4.7 per cent. The growth rate remained lower as compared to 7.2 per cent achieved during April-October 2004. The production of coal at 208.90 million tonnes (mt) was 3.6 per cent lower than the target for the period, but it recorded a growth of 5.3 per cent over the production of the corresponding period of the previous year.

The growth rate remained lower as compared to 7.1 per cent achieved during April-October 2004.

The production of finished steel stood at 25.40 mt, which was 13.2 per cent lower than the target, but it recorded a growth of 6.5 per cent over the production for the corresponding period of the previous year.

The freight traffic carried by the railways stood at 366.92 mt, which was 6.6 per cent lower than the target, but 9.5 per cent higher than the performance during the year-ago period.

Major ports in the country handled 234.58 mt cargo, up 11.7 per cent compared to last year.

In the telecommunications sector, 46,09,014 new telephone lines were added in the switching capacity of telephone exchanges at the national level, which was 34.3 per cent higher than the addition of 34,33,111 lines during the corresponding period of the previous year. Total, fixed plus cellular, telephone connections provided by the public and private sectors at 1,83,98,840 were 52.3 per cent higher than 1,20,79,509 phones provided during the same period last year.

The production of fertilisers during the seven-month period stood at 8.84 mt

In the civil aviation sector, the five international airports handled 2,90,412 tonnes of export cargo during the period under consideration, which is 15.5 per cent more than the year-ago period.

A total of 1,79,412 tonnes import cargo was handled at these airports, which was 12.3 per cent higher than the import cargo, handled during the corresponding period of the previous year.

International terminals handled 92.22 lakh passenger traffic, 12.8 per cent more than 81.72 lakh passenger traffic handled during the corresponding period of the previous year.

At domestic terminals, 159.65 lakh passengers were handled during the period, which were 22.5 per cent more than 130.29 lakh passengers handled during the corresponding period of the previous year.

In the road sector, 2,688 km of National Highways were upgraded/constructed /strengthened, which was 30.3 per cent higher than the target of 2,063 km, but it remained 5.9 per cent lower than the upgradation/construction of 2,856 km of highways during the year-ago period.