The pace of contraction of India’s
infrastructure industry slowed in May with the
core sector shrinking 23.4% official data released on Tuesday showed.
In April, the output of the core sector -- coal, crude oil, natural gas,
refinery products,
fertiliser, steel, cement, and electricity -- had contracted a record 37%.
“In view of nationwide lockdown during April & May 2020 due to Covid-19
pandemic, various industries viz.
Coal, Cement, Steel, Natural Gas, Refinery, Crude Oil etc. experienced substantial loss of production," the commerce and industry ministry said in a statement.
Of the eight sectors, only fertiliser production showed growth at 7.5% after two consecutive months of contraction.
The eight infrastructure sectors comprise 40.27% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and had grown 3.8% in May 2019.
The shrinkage in steel and cement showed the steepest decline at 48.4% and 22.2%, respectively from 78.7% and 85.3% last month.
The government also revised the core sector growth rate at 6.4% from 7.1% earlier.