Core sectors’ growth slips to 2.1% in Feb

New Delhi: The growth of eight core sectors slowed down to 2.1% in February due to fall in output of crude oil and refinery products, official data showed on Monday. Eight infrastructure sectors — coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity — had expanded by 5.4% in February 2018. Production of crude oil and refinery products contracted by 6.1%, and 0.8%, respectively, in February. Growth rate of production of fertiliser, steel, cement and electricity slowed to 2.5%, 4.9%, 8% and 0.7% in February as against 5.2%, 5%, 23% and 4.6% in the same month of 2018, respectively. However, coal and natural gas output grew by 7.3%, and 3.8%, respectively. PTI