NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India’s infrastructure output grew 0.5% year-on-year in April, its slowest pace in eight months, dragged by weakness in crude oil and refinery products, government data showed on Tuesday.
The index, which tracks activity across eight sectors and makes up 40% of the country’s industrial production, grew at a revised 4.6% in March, compared to the initial estimate of 3.8%.
Crude oil output dropped 2.8% year-on-year in April, against a 1.9% drop in March, while natural gas production declined 0.4%, compared with a 12.7% drop in March.
Cement output rose 6.7% in April, compared to a revised 12.2% increase in March, while steel production climbed 3% against a revised 9.3% advance a month earlier.
Fertilizer production fell 4.2% compared with growth of 8.8% in the prior month, while coal production gained 3.5% year-on-year compared to 1.6% in March.
Electricity generation was up 1% in April, against a revised 7.5% increase in the prior month, while refinery products dropped 4.5%, compared with 0.2% the month before.
Core sector output rose 6.9% in April, 2024 and 4.5% in the fiscal year 2024-25.
(Reporting by Sarita Chaganti Singh & Shubham Batra; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Savio D’Souza)
