Output of eight core industries fell by 4.6% in Feb 2021: Govt data

According to data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the output of eight core industry infrastructure sectors fell by 4.6% in February this year. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry informed the media that the consolidated index of eight core industries reached 127.8 in February 2021, which decreased by 4.6% compared to February last year. Cumulatively, the production of eight core industries declined by 8.3% from April to February 2020-21. All the essential fragments, including refinery products, coal, crude oil, and natural gas, observed a drop in output, as per the official data released. The rate of increase of the eight infrastructure sectors—refinery products, coal, crude oil, natural gas, fertilisers, cement, electricity and steel held at 6.4% in February 2020. In August 2020, the sectors had reported negative growth of 6.9%. In January this year, the fragments recorded a positive increase of 0.9%. Coal production decreased by 4.4% in February 2021. Its cumulative index dropped by 2.2% from April to February 2020-21 over the corresponding time of the previous year. While petroleum refinery production dropped by 10.9%, natural gas production and crude oil production also dropped by 1% and 3.2% respectively. Image SourceAlso read: Karnataka: Second wave causes a huge loss to real estate industry Also read: Indian solar sector investments dropped by 30% QoQ in Q1 2021 Also read: Home sales plunge in April-May due to second wave of Covid-19