Core sector growth accelerated in February to 2.11% from the 1.5% in January, snapping a three-month slowing trend, according to official data released on Monday. The natural gas sector saw growth slowing to 3.7% from 6.21% over the same period. “After recording a high single-digit growth of 7.3% in July 2018, core sector has consistently recorded a growth of low single-digit indicating weakness in the industrial growth.”The sectors that saw strong growth in February include cement and coal. The cement sector saw growth at 8.04% in February, although this was still lower than the 11% growth in the previous month. The fertiliser sector also saw growth slowing drastically in February to 2.54% from 10.5% in January.

Source: The Hindu April 01, 2019 17:12 UTC