India's core sector output grew 3.8 pc in December, steel and crude oil production dip

As per the official data released on Monday, production of coal, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizers, cement and electricity industries increased in December 2021 over the corresponding period of last year.

Production of steel and crude oil fell during this period.

"The combined Index of Eight Core Industries stood at 141.3 in December 2021, which is an increase of 3.8 per cent (provisional) as compared to December 2020," a Commerce Ministry statement said.

The Index of Eight Core Industries measures combined and individual performance of production in selected eight core industries viz. coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizers, steel, cement and electricity.

The Eight Core Industries comprise 40.27% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

Coal production increased by 5.2% in December, 2021 over December, 2020. Crude oil production declined 1.8% year-on-year during December.

While natural gas production increased by 19.5% in December, 2021, petroleum refinery production increased by 5.9% during this period.

The monthly production of fertilizers increased by 3.5% year-on-year in December last year, whereas steel production dipped 1%. Cement production grew 12.9% in December, 2021 over December, 2020.

As per the Commerce Ministry data, electricity generation increased by 2.5% in December, 2021 over same month previous year.

"As the impact of heavy rains eased, the core sector growth improved slightly to 3.8% in December 2021 from 3.4% in November 2021, while remaining considerably lower than the 8.4% expansion seen in October 2021," ICRA Chief Economist Aditi Nayar said.

The disaggregated data reveals mixed cues, with two industries contracting (steel and crude oil), two reporting double-digit expansion (cement and natural gas), and the remaining four displaying a modest 2-6% rise, she added.