Growth in the index drops to a 10 month low! According to Index of Eight Core Industries released by Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the growth of eight core infrastructure industries has
dropped to 10-month low of 3.6% in May 2018 due to decline in production of crude oil and natural gas.
- This is the lowest growth rate since July 2017 when eight core infrastructure industries had expanded by 2.9%.
- The growth rate recorded in April 2018 stood higher at 4.6%.
- In April and May 2018, the eight industries recorded 4.1% growth compared to 3.3% in same period in 2017.
What are Core Industries?
- Core industries can be defined as main or key industries of the economy.
- In most countries, these particular industry are backbone of all other industries.
- In India, there are eight core sectors comprising of coal, crude oil, natural gas, petroleum refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity.
- The eight infrastructure sectors, constitute 40.27% of the total index of industrial production (IIP).
Let's look at the revised weightage in Core Sectors:
- Petroleum Refinery production (weight: 28.04%)
- Electricity generation (19.85%)
- Steel production (17.92%)
- Coal production (10.33%)
- Crude Oil production (8.98%)
- Natural Gas production (6.88%)
- Cement production (5.37%)
- Fertilizers production (2.63%)
