Index of Eight Core Industries falls by 0.5% in August

According to release by the Press Information Bureau (PIB), the index of eight core industries recorded a 0.5% decline than that of August last year, thereby arriving as a mildly alarming piece of info in the midst of a nationwide economic slowdown.

 According to the summary of the Index of Eight Core Industries released by PIB, The combined Index of Eight Core Industries stood at 128.2 in August 2019, which declined by 0.5% as compared to the index of August 2018. Its cumulative growth from April to August 2019-20 was 2.4%.

For comparison, last year's data reportedly shows that the index of the eight core industries in August 2018 had expanded by 4.7% from its previous year. The lowest recorded growth in recent history was recorded in 2015 when it displayed a negative growth rate of -1.3%.

The eight core industries are Coal, Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Refinery Products, Fertilizers, Steel, Cement, and Electricity.

The subsequent indices for each of these core industries are provided below.

Coal

Coal production (weight: 10.33 per cent) declined by 8.6 per cent in August 2019 over August 2018. Its cumulative index declined by 0.2 per cent during April to August 2019-20 over corresponding period of the previous year.

Crude Oil

Crude Oil production (weight: 8.98 per cent) declined by 5.4 per cent in August 2019 over August 2018. Its cumulative index declined by 6.1 per cent during April to August 2019-20 over the corresponding period of the previous year.

Natural Gas

The Natural Gas production (weight: 6.88 per cent) declined by 3.9 per cent in August 2019 over August 2018. Its cumulative index declined by 1.5 per cent during April to August 2019-20 over the corresponding period of the previous year.

Refinery Products

Petroleum Refinery production (weight: 28.04 per cent) increased by 2.6 per cent in August 2019 over August 2018. Its cumulative index declined by 1.1 per cent during April to August 2019-20 over the corresponding period of the previous year.

Fertilizers

Fertilizers production (weight: 2.63 per cent) increased by 2.9 per cent in August 2019 over August 2018. Its cumulative index increased by 0.3 per cent during April to August 2019-20 over the corresponding period of the previous year.

Steel

Steel production (weight: 17.92 per cent) increased by 5.0 per cent in August 2019 over August 2018. Its cumulative index increased by 9.7 per cent during April to August 2019-20 over the corresponding period of the previous year.

Cement

Cement production (weight: 5.37 per cent) declined by 4.9 per cent in August 2019 over August 2018. Its cumulative index increased by 1.3 per cent during April to August 2019-20 over the corresponding period of the previous year.

Electricity

Electricity generation (weight: 19.85 per cent) declined by 2.9 per cent in August 2019 over August 2018. Its cumulative index increased by 4.6 per cent during April to August 2019-20 over the corresponding period of the previous year.

The entire press release can be found here.