While an official release by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) revealed that the Indian economy grew at 7.3 per cent in 2014-15, India’s annual infrastructure output fell 0.4 per cent year-on-year in April.
But what is proving to be worrisome for many in the economic sector is that the core output rate was at a 5.7% rise in the same period a year ago but has now dropped to a dismal 0.4%. Economists and trade analysts suggest that this contraction has been due lower production of electricity, crude oil and cement. The output fell by annual 0.1 per cent in March.
The infrastructure sector, which comprises of coal, crude oil, oil refining, natural gas, steel, cement, electricity and fertilisers, accounts for nearly 38 per cent of India’s industrial output.
Though the GDP growth is a pickup sign with a 7.5 per cent growth in the Gross Domestic Product in the January to March quarter, outstripping China’s GDP growth of 7 per cent in the same quarter, the complete economic revival of the Indian economy was yet to take place.
