Eight core industries grow 2.3 percent in May

New Delhi, June 30 (IANS) Eight core industries such as coal, electricity, crude oil, cement and steel, grew 2.3 percent in May this year, compared to 5.9 percent during the corresponding month of last year, official data showed Monday.

The index of eight core industries having a combined weight of 37.90 percent in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) with base 2004-05 stood at 168.7 in the month under review, the ministry of commerce and industry said in a statement.

Electricity generation, which has 10.32 percent weight in the IIP, grew 6.3 percent in May 2014 as compared to 6.2 percent in the same month of previous year.

Cement production grew 8.7 percent, coal production was up 5.5 percent and fertilizer production grew 17.6 percent in the month under review.

However, four the eight core industries registered negative growth in May.

Natural gas production fell 2.2 percent, crude oil output was down 0.1 percent, petroleum and refinery products declined 2.3 percent. and Steel products was down 2 percent.

The IIP, the barometer for measuring industrial output, had increased by 3.4 percent in April due to a sharp rise in electricity and manufacturing production.

The IIP data for June has not been released yet.