India Steel Market Watch
November 3: Growth in eight core sectors rose to a four-month high of 3.2% in September because of a sharp pick-up in fertiliser production and electricity generation.
The eight core industries — coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity — comprising nearly 38% of India’s total industrial production, had grown at 2.6% in the same month of last year. The growth rate in September was the highest since May when it was 4.4%.
The cumulative growth rate in the April-September period of 2015-16 is now at 2.3%, lower than 5.1% in the first six months of the last financial year. As per data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, fertiliser production increased by 18.1% in September as compared to 12.59% in August. It was negative at (-)11.6 in same month of last fiscal.
Growth in electricity generation was at 10.8% in September as compared to 3.9% in the year-ago period. It had recorded 5.6% growth in August.
The coal sector output expanded by a slower pace of 1.9% in September this year as against 7.6% in the same month last fiscal. However, it was higher than 0.4% in August.
The decline in steel production was (-)2.5% as compared to (-)5.9% in the previous month. The sector had shown a growth of 6.6% in September 2014.
Crude oil segment declined (-) 0.1% in September while the sector had shown a healthy growth of 5.6% in August. Growth in the crude oil sector had also dipped in September 2014. While natural gas production posted a growth on a yearly basis, the growth in output was down on a sequential basis.
Similarly, refinery production was better on a yearly basis, but there was a dip month-on-month. The data further revealed cement production declined by 1.5% in September as against a growth of 5.4% in August. The segment had posted a growth of 3.7% in September 2014-15.