After a steep decline in March and April 2020, the overall growth rate of production of eight core industries started showing signs of recovery since May 2020. In a written reply on Wednesday in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament, Som Parkash, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, shared sector-wise and month-wise details of growth rate in the eight core industries since November 2019.   The production of eight core industries has been adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and associated disruptions in demand and supply of goods and services.  Some of the demand side factors responsible for drop in production are decline in private final consumption expenditure and gross fixed capital expenditure, uncertainty in business sentiments, etc. The imposition of nationwide lockdown to contain the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic was a major supply side factor responsible for drop in the core sector growth.   Some of the steps taken by the Government to ensure growth in core sector and to promote domestic industry are as follows:   ·         Government is promoting Public Procurement, National Infrastructure Pipeline and Production Linked Incentive Schemes to boost domestic production. ·         Government has also announced Aatmanirbhar Package of Rs 29.87 trillion (15% of GDP) with bold reforms in number of sectors. ·         Announcement of structural reforms such as deregulation of the agricultural sector, change in definition of MSMEs, commercialisation of coal mining, higher FDI limits in defence and space sector, development of Industrial Land or Land Bank and Industrial Information System, revamp of Viability Gap Funding scheme for social infrastructure, new power tariff policy. ·         Incentivising States to undertake sector reforms as part of the Aatmanirbhar Package. ·         Regulatory and compliance measures such as postponing tax-filing and other compliance deadlines, reduction in penalty interest rate for overdue GST filings, change in government procurement rules, faster clearing of MSME dues, IBC related relaxations for MSMEs have been taken to boost the industry.   To facilitate investment in the country, Empowered Group of Secretaries (EGoS) and Project Development Cells (PDCs) have been set up in Ministries or Departments.   To contain surge in imports of non-essential commodities, corrective steps such as increase in basic customs duty or through other non-tariff measures like issue of Quality Control Orders have been taken. One District One Product Scheme has also been launched to realise the true potential of a district.   Growth rate (in %) of production of eight core industries (year-on-year) Months and Years Overall Growth rate Coal Crude Oil Natural Gas Petroleum Refinery Products  Fertilizers  Steel Cement Electricity  Weight (%)   10.33 8.98 6.88 28.04 2.63 17.92 5.37 19.85 November, 2019 0.7 -3.5 -6.0 -6.4 3.1 13.6 7.0 4.3 -4.9 December, 2019 3.1 6.1 -7.4 -9.2 3.0 10.2 8.7 5.5 0.0 January, 2020 2.2 8.0 -5.3 -9.0 1.9 -0.1 1.6 5.1 3.2 February, 2020 6.4 11.3 -6.4 -9.6 7.4 2.9 2.9 7.8 11.5 March, 2020 -8.6 4.0 -5.5 -15.1 -0.5 -11.9 -21.9 -25.1 -8.2 April, 2020 -37.9 -15.5 -6.4 -19.9 -24.2 -4.5 -82.8 -85.2 -22.9 May, 2020 -21.4 -14.0 -7.1 -16.8 -21.3 7.5 -40.4 -21.4 -14.8 June, 2020 -12.4 -15.5 -6.0 -12.0 -8.9 4.2 -23.2 -6.8 -10.0 July, 2020 -7.6 -5.7 -4.9 -10.2 -13.9 6.9 -6.5 -13.5 -2.4 August, 2020 -6.9 3.6 -6.3 -9.5 -19.1 7.3 0.5 -14.5 -1.8 September, 2020 0.6 21.0 -6.0 -10.6 -9.5 -0.3 6.2 -3.4 4.8 October, 2020* -0.9 11.7 -6.2 -8.6 -17.0 6.3 4.0 3.2 11.2 November, 2020* -1.4 3.3 -4.9 -9.3 -4.8 1.6 -0.5 -7.3 3.5 December, 2020* -1.3 2.2 -3.6 -7.2 -2.8 -2.9 -2.7 -9.7 4.2 2016-17 (April-March) 4.8 3.2 -2.5 -1.0 4.9 0.2 10.7 -1.2 5.8 2017-18 (April-March) 4.3 2.6 -0.9 2.9 4.6 0.03 5.6 6.3 5.3 2018-19 (April-March) 4.4 7.4 -4.1 0.8 3.1 0.3 5.1 13.3 5.2 2019-20 (April-March) 0.4 -0.4 -5.9 -5.6 0.2 2.7 3.4 -0.9 0.9 2020-21 (April-March)* -10.1 -1.9 -5.7 -11.6 -13.5 3.0 -16.7 -18.3 -3.7 Image SourceWritten from a government news release.