The output of eight core sectors of the economy rose 3.8 per cent in December 2021 as against a contraction of 0.4 per cent in the same month last, according to official data released on Monday.
The eight infrastructure sectors -- coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity showed positive growth in the last month of 2021. However, individually, crude oil and steel sectors witnessed negative trends. The growth rate of these sectors taken together during April-December 2021 was 12.6 per cent as compared to the corresponding period of the last fiscal.
Official figures show coal production increased by 5.2 per cent in December 2021 over December 2020, fertilizers production increased by 3.5 per cent in the last month over December 2020 and cement production increased by 12.9 per cent in December 2021 over the same period in 2020. Electricity generation increased by 2.5 per cent in December 2021 over December 2020.
Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist of ICRA attributes the improvement in the core sector performance to the 'easing of the impact of heavy rains' and points out that the 3.8 per cent growth in the core sector in December 2021 is a slight improvement from 3.4 per cent in November 2021 while remaining considerably lower than the 8.4 per cent expansion seen in October 2021.
"The cement output resumed a double-digit growth in December 2021 which was only to be expected after the exit of weather disruptions in southern India," said Nayar.
However, steel production declined by 1.0 per cent over the same period in December 2020, crude oil production declined by 1.8 per cent in December 2021 over the same last year period, petroleum refinery production increased by 5.9 per cent in December 2021 over December 2020.
Natural gas production increased by 19.5 per cent over December 2020. According to ICRA analysis, the disaggregated data reveals mixed cues, with two industries contracting (steel and crude oil), two reporting double-digit expansion (cement and natural gas), and the remaining four displaying a modest 2-6 per cent rise.
( With inputs from ANI )
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