Slowdown Blues: 8 core sectors report flat growth of 4.3% since 17-18, second slowest rate in 5 years

India's core economy grew at 4.3 per cent in 2018-19, its second slowest pace in the past 5 years, down from 4.9 per cent in 2014-15, according to latest data on eight core industries-Coal, Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Refinery, Fertilisers, Steel, Cement & Electricity. The growth rate is also flat since fiscal 2017-18 which had also recorded a 4.3 per cent growth.

Core sector growth will have a direct impact on the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) as these sectors  account for 40.27 per cent of total factory output.

The core sectors' fiscal performance was dragged down particularly by Crude Oil, Fertilisers and Natural Gas segments which reported negative or low growth in 18-19.

While Crude oil segment showed a negative growth of 4.1 per cent(worst in the past 5 years), natural gas grew just 0.8 per cent and fertilisers even lower at 0.3 per cent.

Other segments such as electricity grew 5.1 per cent, the worst in past 5 years; steel 4.7 per cent, second worst in the past 5 years; and, refinery products 3.1 per cent, second worst in 5 years.

Among better performers, cement grew 13.3 per cent, the best in the past 5 years and coal 7.3 per cent, the second best in 5 years.

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