The growth in the infrastructure sector dropped to 1.7 per cent in September 2002, after remaining above 5 per cent earlier in the fiscal.
The dip in growth can, however, be attributed to the high base effect because the index of six infrastructure industries reported a growth of 4.1 per cent in September 2001, much higher than in any month in the April-August 2001 period.
Among the six industries covered in the index, finished steel performed best with a growth of 7.6 per cent as against 1.8 per cent in September 2001. Petroleum refinery products reported a 2.8 per cent growth, up from a 2.1 per cent fall in production in the corresponding month last year.
Coal and electricity reported a fall in production by 2.4 per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively.
Within the electricity segment, the production of hydro and thermal electricity declined, while that of nuclear electricity rose in September 2002 as compared to September 2001.
In the first six months of the fiscal, cement reported a 9.8 per cent growth, while finished steel production rose 9.3 per cent.
The output of coal increased 5.9 per cent and that of petroleum refinery products rose 5.6 per cent over the output in April-September 2001-02.
Electricity has reported the worst performance, with only a 3.4 per cent increase in production in April-September 2002 over September 2001.
