Dragged down by natural gas and fertilisers sectors, the eight core industries shrank 2.5 per cent in February, a worst ever performance in decades, which is likely to result in muted overall factory output numbers.
The core industries -- coal, crude oil, natural gas, petroleum refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity -- had grown by 7.7 per cent in February, 2012.
"The decline in growth in February, 2013 was on account of negative growth witnessed in electricity generation and in the production of crude oil, coal, natural gas and fertilisers," the Commerce and Industry Ministry said today.
The contraction was last seen in these industries in February 2001. The core sector (at that time have six industries only) had contracted by one per cent.
During April-February 2012-13, the cumulative growth rate of the sector was 2.6 per cent against 5.2 per cent during the corresponding period in 2011-12.
These eight industries together account for about 38 per cent in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
Experts said the worst ever performance of the core sector industries would dampen the overall industrial output (IIP) numbers, which is scheduled to released on April 12.
"The numbers will be a drag on IIP and will pull down the February IIP. It is reflection of the slowdown in the industry. However, this cannot be interpreted as trend," Crisil Chief Economist D K Joshi said.
