For the economic trackers, and for the government, the indication from the core industries is not encouraging when the Indian economy is struggling. Production in the eight core industries has decreased in August 2019 over that of August last year. The decrease, according to the government figure, is 0.5 percent.
Of the eight core industries, production growth in five is on the negative side. Only three- Steel, Refinery, and fertilizer have managed to register some positive growth in August over the corresponding month of the previous year. A maximum shortfall of 8.6 percent has occurred in coal production. Crude Oil production in August has decreased by 5.4 percent. It is 4.9 in the case of cement and 3.9 for natural gas. Electricity generation has also fallen by 2.9 percent in August this year over the corresponding month last year.
Steel production, in August, has registered a 5.0 percent growth rate. Refinery and fertilizer are the other two with a positive growth rate of 2.6 percent and 2.9 percent respectively.
However, the cumulative growth in the said sectors during April- August period of this year is 2.4 percent over the April-August period of last year.
The government report mentions that Index of the eight core industries stands at 128.2 in August 2019 against 128.8 in August 2018. The cumulative index of April to August of 2019 is 132.1; it is 129.1 from April – August last year.
The 0.5 percent negative growth in August indicates the worst performance by the core industries in a month over four years. The growth rate in July was 2.7percent in July and it was 4.7 percent in August 2018.
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