Aug 1, 2013, 05.39AM IST
NEW DELHI: More grim data emerged on Wednesday as the key infrastructure sector posted a near flat growth, raising doubts about the strength of the industrial sector. Data released by the commerce and industry ministry showed the eight key infrastructure sector grew 0.1% in June compared with an expansion of 7.9% in the same month last year. The industrial sector has been under stress for a long period due to a string of factors such as high interest rates, stubborn prices, policy delays, global economic slowdown. While some efforts have been launched to get stalled projects off the block, there are significant bottlenecks which have acted as an obstacle for faster acceleration. Indian Inc has called for urgent policy measures to revive investment and growth. The data showed that then problems in the core sector, which spans coal, crude oil, natural gas, petroleum refinery, fertilizers, cement, cement, steel and electricity, were far from over. Four key sectors, including natural gas, coal, crude oil and electricity declined in June point to a deep stress in the sector. Coal production fell 3% in June 2013 over June 2012, while crude oil production declined 0.6% in June, 2013 compared to the year earlier month. Natural Gas production declined 16.7% in June compared to the year earlier period, while petroleum refinery production grew 2.3% in June 2013 over June, 2012. Electricity generation fell 1.2%. Fertilizer production registered sharp turnaround and rose 11.3% and steel production recorded a growth of 3.4%. Cement production rose 2.3% in June 2013. The infrastructure sector accounts for nearly 40% of the index of industrial production and any slowdown reflects on the broader data. Factory output fell 1.6% in May raising worries about overall growth in the current fiscal year.
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