NEW DELHI: India’s expanded core sector grew at the fastest pace in five months to touch 5% in June, compared with 1.1% a year ago, official data with a revised base year 2022-23, released on Monday, showed. The new series expands the core sector basket to nine industries by adding iron ore.The infrastructure industries showed resilience, while output in energy dominant industries remained subdued, reflecting the impact of the prolonged West Asia conflict. The newly added iron ore industry, which has a weight of 4.9% in the new index, grew 43.9%, while output in cement accelerated 9.8%. Electricity generation, however, decelerated during the month but remained resilient with near double-digit expansion (9.8%). Steel output decelerated to 4.6%.Fertiliser production, however, declined 3.3%, its fourth straight month of fall in the wake of West Asia-led disruptions. Other oil related sectors like refinery products (-4.7%), natural gas (-7.4%) and crude oil (-4.2%) too, witnessed continued contraction in production.In first quarter of current fiscal, the core sector grew 3.6%, compared to 1% in the last financial year.
