Eight core industries' output grows 56.1% in April on low-base effect

The output of eight core industries grew 56.1 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in April 2021 on a low-base effect as industrial production was very low in the year-ago month because of a nationwide lockdown.

However, the industrial output declined 15.1 per cent as compared to March 2021 due to the emergence of second wave of COVID-19 pandemic, with all eight industries registering a decline in output.

"The combined ICI (Index of Eight Core Industries) stood at 126.7 in April 2021, which increased by 56.1 per cent (provisional) as compared to the index of April 2020. This high growth rate in April 2021 is largely due to low index base in April 2020 consequent to the low industrial production across all sectors caused by nationwide lockdown imposed to contain spread of COVID-19 last year," the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a release.

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With a decline of 2.1 per cent YoY, only crude oil production recorded a fall in April 2021. While cement output grew 548.8 per cent, steel production increased 400 per cent. Electricity and refinery products recorded a growth of 38.7 per cent and 30.9 per cent, respectively. Coal output grew 9.5 per cent YoY, while natural gas and fertiliser production rose 25.7 per cent and 1.7 per cent, respectively.

For FY21, output of the eight core industries declined 6.5 per cent as compared to the earlier year. During the year, only fertilizer production recorded a growth of 1.5 per cent. Cement production saw the highest decline of 11.9 per cent, followed by refinery products (11.2 per cent), steel output (9 per cent) and natural gas production (8.2 per cent).

The ministry also revised upwards the growth in output of eight core industries to 1.3 per cent in January 2021 from provisional estimate of 0.1 per cent.

The eight core industries account for 40.27 per cent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

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