According to data released by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), the output of eight core infrastructure industries increased to a six-month high of 8.4 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in April, led by a sharp jump in coal output, Business Standard reported.
The eight sectors — coal, steel, cement, fertilisers, electricity, natural gas, refinery products, and crude oil — comprise two-fifths of India’s total industrial production. Out of the eight sectors, barring crude oil and steel, all registered positive YoY growth in April.
Production of coal, natural gas, refinery, fertiliser, electricity, and cement witnessed an increase of 28.8 per cent, 6.4 per cent, 9.2 per cent, 8.7 per cent, 8 per cent and 10.7 per cent, respectively as compared to last year. Steel output contracted 0.7 per cent.
On a sequential basis, the Index of Eight Core Industries declined by 9.5 per cent in April amid geopolitical tensions.
Sunil Kumar Sinha, the principal economist at India Ratings, said the core sector growth was led primarily by a record YoY growth in coal output.
“Notably, output growth in electricity and petroleum and refinery products were on a high base and at an eight-month and six-month high, respectively. Production of core segments also just crossed the pre-Covid level, alluding to the weak recovery across infrastructure sectors,” Sinha said.
Meanwhile, credit to large companies rose 1.6% in April from the same month a year earlier, when it had contracted 3.6%, according to the latest data on the sectoral flow of bank credit released by the Reserve Bank of India.
Credit to medium-sized industries increased 53.5% year-on-year in April this year compared with 44.8% last year. The growth in credit to micro and small industries was 29%, compared to 8.7% a year earlier. Overall, credit to industry expanded 8.1%, compared to a contraction of 0.4% in April 2021.
Retail loans rose faster this year at 14.7% against 12.1% in April 2021, primarily driven by the "housing" and "vehicle loans" segments.
Credit growth to agriculture and allied activities continued to be robust at 10.6%; a year earlier, it was 10.7%.
Loans to the services sector picked up 11.1% in April this year compared with 2.4% a year earlier, mainly due to demand from NBFCs, trade, tourism, hotels and restaurants, and transport operators.
