New Delhi, May 28 (IANS) India’s infrastructure output expanded by 5.1 percent for the first month of this financial year as against 3.7 percent in April 2009 on account of growth in production of crude oil, petroleum refinery and finished steel, official data showed Friday.
For April-March 2009-10, the infrastructure output registered a growth of 5.5 percent as against 3 percent in previous fiscal due to strong growth in electricity generation and finished steel production.
The infrastructure output is measured by the index of six core industries which has a combined weight of 26.7 per cent in the index of industrial production (IIP) that measures India’s industrial production.
Electricity generation, with a weight of 10.17 percent in the IIP, grew by 6 percent in April as against 6.7 percent in the year-ago period. Crude oil production registered a growth of 5.2 percent against a contraction of 3.1 percent in April 2009.
The petroleum refinery production expanded by 5.3 percent compared to 4.5 percent contraction in year-ago period, while coal output shrank by 2.3 percent against an increase of 14.2 percent in April 2009.
The cement production grew by 8.7 percent in April 2010 compared to 11.9 percent in same month last year and finished (carbon) steel output grew by 4.7 percent against 1.3 percent shrinkage a year ago, the data showed.
