<div>Belying hopes raised by a higher-than-expected GDP growth in the July-September period and expectations of manufacturing growth as PMI figures rose to the highest since March, output of eight core sector industries contracted by 0.6 per cent in October due to poor showing by coal, oil and gas sectors.<br /><br />The decline in output of eight core sector industries — coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement, electricity — was especially disappointing as it followed a robust 8 per cent growth in September.<br /><br />According to the data released by the government on Monday (2 December), the output of eight infrastructure industries in April-October was a mere 2.6 per cent against 6.8 per cent in the same period of the last fiscal.<br /><br />The eight core industries have a combined weight of about 38 per cent in the Index for Industrial Production (IIP).<br /><br />The October IIP numbers will be released in the second week of December. <br /><br />Commenting on the data, Crisil's Chief Economist D K Joshi said the performance of the core sector is likely to remain subdued in the coming months as well.Natural gas output contracted by 13.6 per cent in October year-on-year.Coal production declined by 3.9 per cent.<br /><br />Crude oil output was also poor with 0.8 per cent fall in the month under review.<br /><br />Petroleum refinery production declined by 4.8 per cent.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 0);"><strong>Read Also</strong></span><strong>: <a href="http://www.businessworld.in/news/economy/india/manufacturing-returns-to-growth-in-nov/1173122/page-1.html">Manufacturing Returns To Growth In Nov</a></strong><br /><br />Among those which put up good performance, fertiliser output registered a growth of 4.1 per cent and steel production grew at 3.5 per cent.<br /><br />Cement and power generation sectors posted marginal growth of over 1 per cent each in the month under review. <br /><br /><strong>PMI Grows</strong><br />Indian manufacturing returned to growth last month as a strong rise in orders pushed factories to step up production, a business survey showed on Monday, suggesting a slow economic recovery is on its way.<br /><br />After sluggish growth of the first quarter, the economy had grown at a higher-than-expected 4.8 per cent in the three months through September, helped by an uptick in farm, manufacturing, construction and services sectors.<br /><br />An expansion in manufacturing can only boost optimism after data on Friday showed Asia's third-largest economy grew at a higher-than-expected rate in the three months through September.<br /><br />The HSBC Manufacturing PMI, compiled by Markit, rose to 51.3 in November from October's 49.6.<br /><br />The PMI index is the highest since March and marks its first time above the watershed level of 50 that divides growth from contraction in four months.<br /><br />"Manufacturing activity picked up, led by a rise in new domestic orders, which helped pull up output growth," said Leif Eskesen, chief economist for India at survey sponsor HSBC.<br /><br /><br /> </div>
