Core sector grows 4.7% in October 2017

According to index of eight core industries released by Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Core sector growth has grown 4.7% in October 2017, matching September 2017 growth, which has been revised down from 5.2%.
This is the highest core sector growth since March 2017. April-October 2017 growth stood at 3.5%, down from 5.6% in the corresponding period last year.

Key Facts

The eight core sectors — coal, natural gas, crude oil, refinery products, cement, fertilisers, steel and electricity — had clocked a growth of 7.1% in October 2016. However, in October 2016, right core sectors grew at slower pace, chiefly due to subdued performance of cement, steel and refinery segments.
Steel production rose 8.4% and was followed closely by refinery products that reported 7.5% growth. Coal output grew 3.9% in October 2017 against 10.4% in September 2017. Cement production fell 2.7% against 0.1% rise in September 2017. Crude oil production also fell 0.4% in October 2017.

Core Industry sector

Core industry can be defined as the main industry of the economy. In most countries, there is particular industry that seems to be backbone of all other industries and it qualifies to be the core industry. In India, there are eight core sectors comprising of coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity.
The electricity has the maximum weight of 10.32% followed by Steel (6.68%), Petroleum Refinery (5.94%), Crude Oil production (5.22 %), Coal production (4.38 %), Cement (2.41%), Natural Gas production (1.71 %) and Fertilizer production (1.25%). These eight Core Industries comprise nearly 40% of weight of items included in Index of Industrial Production (IIP), which measures factory output.

Month: Current Affairs - December, 2017