Infrastructure growth slows to 1.4 pc in January

New Delhi, Mar 6 (PTI) Growth in India's six
infrastructure industries slowed to 1.4 per cent in January as
production in the core sectors barring cement showed poor
performance.

The six core infrastructure industries - crude oil,
petroleum refinery products, coal, electricity, cement and
finished carbon steel-- had registered a growth rate of 3.6
per cent in January 2008.

During the April-January period of this fiscal, the
industries posted a growth rate of 3.2 per cent against 5.7
per cent in the corresponding period previous year.

Displaying poor performance, crude oil production
declined further to 8.1 per cent in January after a dip of 0.2
per cent in the corresponding month last year. Petroleum
refinery production too declined by 2.6 per cent against a
growth rate of 5.4 per cent in the year-ago period.

Coal output and electricity generation registered growth
rates of 6.3 per cent and 1.4 per cent in January against 7.9
per cent and 3.7 per cent, respectively, in the same month
previous year.

Finished steel production registered a growth of 1.2 per
cent in January against 2 per cent last year, while cement
production grew by 8.3 per cent compared to 5.6 per cent in
January 2008. PTI NKD