Core Sector Growth Declines To 4.5pc In October

New Delhi: The fall in production of crude petroleum, petroleum refinery products, cement, and carbon steel has cut down the growth of the six infrastructure industries to 4.5 per cent in October 2007, compared with a growth of 9.9 per cent in the same month last year. According to data released by the Government on Dec 27, the output of crude petroleum reported a negative growth of 0.1 per cent in October this year as against 9.3 per cent in October last year. During the April to October period of the current financial year, the growth of the core infrastructure industries, which has a 26.7 per cent weightage in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), fell to 6.2 per cent from 8.9 per cent in the corresponding period last year. Electricity generation in October this year also fell to 4.2 per cent from 9.7 per cent in the same month last year. While coal production saw a growth of 9.2 per cent, cement and finished steel production for the month declined.