June 1: A decline in cement and steel production has slowed down the growth of India’s infrastructure index in April to 5.2 per cent. The infrastructure sector had grown 7.5 per cent in the year ago period. The slow down in core industries, which have a weight of 26.68 per cent in the country’s index for industrial production, is expected to affect the overall factory output for the month. The data also signals moderation in overall economic growth. The GDP for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010-11 had grown by 7.8 per cent, the slowest pace in five quarters.
According to provisional data released on Monday, the cement production has declined by 1.1 per cent in April 2011 compared to a growth of 8.8 per cent in the same month of 2010. A lacklustre demand from real estate and a slow down in infrastructure projects have led to decline in the demand. Cement production this April for the country was 14.5 million tonnes as compared to 14.7 million tonnes in the year ago period.
The slower growth of 4.3 per cent in the sales of finished steel production has also contributed to the overall decline in the infrastructure sector growth. Electricity output has also declined to 6.8 per cent in April this year, as against 6.9 per cent in the same month of 2010. However, the other three sectors — crude oil, petroleum refining and coal — have reported better growth during the month.