IANS | 28 Mar, 2024
                  The eight core industries that include sectors such as coal, cement, 
steel and electricity posted a 6.7 per cent growth in February this year
 compared to the same month of the previous year, according to an 
official figures released on Thursday.
  The eight core industries 
comprise 40.27 per cent of the weight of items included in the Index of 
Industrial Production (IIP) and therefore give a good indication of the 
overall industrial growth rate.  
  Both cement and coal 
posted a robust double digit growth in production of 10.2 per cent and 
11.6 per cent respectively in February. Steel production recorded an 8.4
 per cent increase during the month while electricity generation, which 
has a 19.85 per cent weight in the index, increased by 6.3 per cent.
  Crude
 Oil production increased by 7.9 per cent in February while natural gas 
production increased by 11.3 per cent. Petroleum Refinery production, 
which has a weight of 28.04 per cent in the index, clocked a 2.6 per 
cent increase in production during the month.
  However, fertilizer production declined by 9.5 per cent during February.
  The final growth rate of Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI) for November 2023 has been revised to 7.9 per cent.
  The
 cumulative growth rate of the index of core industries during April to 
February, 2023-24 now works out to 7.7 per cent compared to the 
corresponding period of last year.