India’s September infrastructure output up 8.1% y/y – government

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India’s infrastructure output rose 8.1% year-on-year in September but was at a four-month low with growth across most sectors slowing, government data showed on Tuesday.

Infrastructure output, which comprises eight sectorsincluding coal and electricity, accounts for nearly 40% ofindustrial output.

A pickup in rains “expectedly flattened core sector expansion in September”, said Aditi Nayar, an economist at ICRA.

Electricity generation grew 9.3% in the month, coal production rose by 16.1% and the steel sector expanded 9.6% growth, the figures showed.

Cement output increased by 4.7% in September while crude oil production fell marginally by 0.4%.

Industrial output growth, measured by Index of Industrial Production, “is likely to moderate to high single digits in September 2023, taking a cue from the core sector’s trajectory”, Nayar added.

In the first six months of the financial year that started

on April 1, infrastructure output rose 7.8% year on year, the data showed.

(Reporting by Shivangi Acharya and Nikunj Ohri,Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Ed Osmond)

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