Core sector grows 5.9% in September

 The petroleum refining industry reported a 11 per cent growth in production, compared to a paltry 2.9 per cent rise a year earlier. The steel industry grew 7.8 per cent in September this year as against 9.6 per cent in September 2002, while the cement industry grew 7.2 per cent compared with a 0.7 per cent growth recorded in the same month in the last financial year.

 The six infrastructure industries had reported a cumulative growth of 3.8 per cent in August and 2.6 per cent in July 2003.

 As the performance of the infrastructure industries have a big bearing on industrial production, their improved growth indicates that a recovery may well be underway and that the index of industrial production may start to rise in the coming months.

 The index for the six infrastructure industries grew 4.2 per cent in the first half of the current financial year compared with 6.5 per cent in the first six months of 2002-03.

 The figures released by the commerce and industry ministry show that barring the petroleum refining industry, which registered a growth of 6.1 per cent during the first six months of 2003-04 as against 5.6 per cent in the corresponding period last year, all other sectors registered a decline in the same period this year.