Sept core sector growth drops to 4.4% YoY as rains affect infra activity

Core sector rose 16.6 per cent in the first half of the current financial year against a contraction of 14.5 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year

Growth of eight core industries dropped to 4.4 per cent in September from 11.5 per cent in the previous month due to flat fertilizer production, decline in crude oil output and slowdown in expansion of electricity generation.

This could drag down industrial output growth for the month, despite build up of pre-festival stocks. The core sector has 40 per cent weight in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

In fact, the core sector contracted sequentially by five per cent in September over August. While the growth in August had come on the low base of 6.9 per cent contraction in the same