India's Core Sector Output Contracts For The 4th Straight Month

In November, India's eight infrastructure sectors registered the fourth consecutive month of contraction in output at 1.5 percent. The fall in output was significant when compared to October's 5.8 percent, which is being seen as an early sign of bottoming out of the Indian economy.

The Eight Core Industries make for 40.27 percent of the weight of items in the arrival at Index of Industrial Production (IIP). The combined Index of Eight Core Industries was at 126.3 in November 2019, which is 1.5 percent lower when compared to the same month a year ago.

Between April to November, the cumulative growth for the financial year 2019-20 has been zero percent.

However, cement production bounced back to positive growth at 4.1 percent while output of refinery products rose to 3.1 percent in November.

On the other hand, the output of coal and electricity sectors minimized contraction in November to 2.5 percent and 5.7 percent, respectively. The output of crude oil, natural gas and steel saw their output shrink at a faster pace in November than in October.