India's Core Sector Growth Improves To 1.8% In November After Flat October

India's eight core sectors recorded a cumulative growth of 1.8% year-on-year in November, after a flat performance in the preceding month, showed the data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Monday.

Cement output rose significantly by 14.5% year-on-year, signalling a jump in construction activity. In the preceding month, the growth stood at 5.2%.

Steel production remained robust, rising by 6.1% in November after a 5.9% climb in October. The coal sector witnessed an uptick of 2.1%, after an 8.5% slump in the previous month.

Fertiliser output also increased by 5.6% in November, after 7.4% growth in October.

However, the output of petroleum refinery products, which hold the most weightage in the index of eight core industries, declined by 0.9% after rising by 4.6% in October.

Natural gas production continued to slip, with a decline of 2.5% recorded after a 5% plunge in October. Also, crude oil production declined by 3.2% after a 1.2% dip in the preceding month.

Power generation also remained in the negative, as electricity output fell 2.2% in November, following a 6.9% slump in the previous month.

The eight core industries constitute about 40% of India's Index of Industrial Production (IIP). In line with the 0.1% slump in core sector output in October, the IIP growth during the month also moderated to 0.4%. This was the lowest in the past 14 months.

The slow growth in October was attributed to less number of working days due to a number of festivals in the month, including Dussehra, Dipawali and Chhath Puja.

The IIP growth for November is expected to be published later this month.