India's infrastructure sector grew 3.7 per cent in August from a year earlier, mainly due to the expansion in the petroleum refining, steel and cement sectors, according to the government data released in New Delhi on Monday.

However, the rise was lower than the 7.4 per cent growth recorded in last August, and just slightly higher than the 2.6 per cent growth registered this July.

The infrastructure sector - comprising six core industries of crude oil, petroleum refining, coal, cement, electricity and steel - grew 3.8 per cent in April-August, compared with a growth of 7.3 per cent in the same period last year.

The steel sector grew 9.4 per cent in August, compared with a rise of 14.9 per cent in the same month a year earlier, while the cement sector grew 5.7 per cent against 12.2 per cent in the previous year.

However, crude oil production declined 3.4 per cent as opposed to a growth of 1.9 per cent in August 2002. But petroleum refinery products improved to 7.3 per cent this year from 6.6 per cent growth last fiscal.

The electricity sector, which accounts for nearly 40 per cent of the infrastructure index, grew 0.9 per cent in August, compared with a growth of 4.1 per cent a year earlier, while the coal sector grew 3.5 per cent as opposed to 5.9 per cent the previous year.