New Delhi - Growth of eight core sectors expanded to 7-month high of 6.7% in June due to better performance by cement, refinery and coal segments, as per official data released today.
The eight sectors, which also include fertilisers, steel, natural gas, electricity and crude oil, had expanded by 1 per cent in June last year.
The previous high rate of growth was recorded in November 2017 at 6.9%.
The growth rate in May was 4.3%.
As per the data released by the commerce and industry ministry, the expansion in cement, refinery products and coal was 13.2%, 12% and 11.5% respectively, year-on-year basis.
Crude oil and natural gas registered a negative growth of 3.4% and 2.7% respectively in June compared to the year-ago period.
The expansion in the electricity generation was 4% in June compared to 2.2% in the same month of the last fiscal.
Steel sector, however witnessed a slower growth of 4.4% compared to 6% in June 2017.
The data revealed that expansion rate in the fertiliser segment was 1%, better than negative growth recorded in the year ago month.
During the April-June quarter of the current fiscal, the eight core industries recorded a growth of 5.2% as against 2.5% in the same period last year.
These eight core industries comprise 40.27% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).