With the corona virus-induced lock down hitting industries hard, the eight core sectors witnessed a contraction of as much as 6.5 % for the month of March, according to data revealed by government on Thursday.
The eight core sectors had expanded by 5.8 % in March 2019.But output of these eight core infrastructure industries shrank by 6.5 % in March due to amid the corona virus lock down fall in production of crude oil, natural gas,refinery products, fertilizer, steel, cement and electricity.Production of crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizer, steel, cement and electricity contracted by 5.5 %, 15.2 %, 0.5 %, 11.9 %, 13 %, 24.7 % and 7.2 % respectively in the month under review, official data showed.
The eight core industries comprise of 40.27 % of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
According to the data, the core sectors grew at 5.8 % in the same month last year, while it grew by 7.1 % in the last month i.e. February 2020.The growth rate of coal production declined to 4.1 % in March from 9.1% in March 2019.
