New Delhi, June 30 India’s core industries that include electricity, coal, steel, cement, crude oil and natural gas, registered a sluggish 3.8 percent growth in May this year as compared to 5.8 percent recorded during the same month last year, government data showed.
The eight core industries, that have a combined weight of 37.90 percent in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), have posted a cumulative growth of 3.4 percent in April-May period as against five percent during the corresponding period of previous year, according to data released by the ministry of commerce and industry.
Electricity generation grew by 5.2 percent in May 2012, substantially down from 10.3 percent growth registered in the same month last year.
Growth in steel production fell to 4.9 percent during the month under review as compared to 8 percent in May 2012.
Crude oil production registered a sluggish 0.5 percent growth, while production of natural gas dropped by 10.8 percent.
However, cement production registered a growth of 11.3 percent in May 2012 against a drop of 1.2 percent during the corresponding month of 2011.