The Index of six core-infrastructure industries has registered 8.7 per cent growth in January 2007 as compared to 8.2 per cent last year. The index registered a growth of 8.4 per cent as against 5.8 per cent during the ten month period between April and January 2006-07. The index which has a combined weight of 26.7 per cent in the overall Index of Industrial Production (IIP) takes into account growth indices of sectors like crude petroleum, petroleum refinery, coal, steel, cement and electricity. Against the negative growth rate of 4.9 per cent last year, the crude petroleum production registered 4.7 per cent growth in January. Also, the petroleum refinery products, coal and electricity were up in relative terms. Petro refinery production was at 9 per cent while coal production went up to 10 per cent. Cement and steel which have recently been subjected to price controls fared badly with a decline in growth of production. Cement production registered a growth of 6.8 per cent in January compared to 15.4 per cent last year while finished steel production grew by 10.4 per cent against 14.3 per cent last year. Growth for the period between April-January mirrored the trends in January with crude, petro refinery and electricity growing at faster rates as compared to a year before while cement and steel witnessing a relatively slower growth.
