New Delhi, Nov 30 (IANS) India's select industrial output rose to a six-month high of 6.6 per cent in October on the back of higher production of steel, refinery products and cement, official data showed on Wednesday.
The gauge for select factory output -- Index of Eight Core Industries (ECI) -- had increased by 5.00 per cent in September and had risen by 3.8 per cent during the corresponding month of 2015.
The cumulative growth during April to October increased by 4.9 per cent.
The data which represents the output of major industrial sectors was released by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry.
The ECI comprises of nearly 38 per cent weightage of the items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
The index includes sectors like coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel (alloy and non-alloy), cement and electricity.
Under the ECI, steel, refinery products and cement reported healthy output, whereas production of crude oil, coal and natural gas declined.
Electricity generation, which has the highest weightage of 10.32 per cent in the IIP, edged up by 2.8 per cent in October, as compared with the corresponding month of 2015.
Steel production, the second most important component as per weightage of 6.68 per cent, surged the maximum among all the sub-indices. It zoomed by 16.9 per cent in the month under review.
Distilling of refinery products, the third most important component as per weightage, was higher by 15.1 per cent in October, as compared with the corresponding month of last year.
However, extraction of crude oil, which has a 5.22 per cent weightage in IIP, decreased by 3.2 per cent during last month.
Coal mining, with a 4.38 per cent weightage, declined by 1.6 per cent last month.
Cement production, which has the weightage of 2.41 per cent, increased by 6.2 per cent in October 2016.
On the other hand, the sub-index for natural gas output, with a weightage of 1.71 per cent edged lower by 1.4 per cent during the month under consideration.
Fertiliser manufacturing, which has the least weightage of only 1.25 per cent rose by 0.8 per cent in October.
