Infrastructure growth plummeted to 0.5 per cent during July 2005 compared to 11.1 per cent in the same month last fiscal, owing to a sharp fall in production of coal, steel, power and crude oil.
The slow down in all the six core industries -- which includes petroleum refining and cement as well -- during the fourth month of the current fiscal saw infrastructure growth drop to 0.5 per cent, the second lowest in about 18 months, according to the latest figures released by the government on Tuesday.
Cumulative growth in the infrastructure sector during April-July 2005-06 also declined to 4.2 per cent as against 8.9 per cent during the corresponding period last fiscal.
The sharp drop in infrastructure growth during July 2005 came after a strong performance during the previous month of June, when the sector had grown 10.4 per cent.
This is the second lowest growth rate in the core sector in over a year. The sector had registered a negative growth of 0.6 per cent during February 2004-05.
During July this year, actual production of crude oil, coal and electricity generation declined, while that in the other three sectors also slowed down pulling the sector down to a mere 0.5 per cent.
Crude oil production dipped 4 per cent during the month compared to 0.2 per cent growth in July last fiscal, coal output decreased 1.7 per cent as against a growth of 7.5 per cent and power generation declined 1.3 per cent from a strong 13.6 per cent growth in the same month last fiscal.
Growth in finished steel production dropped to 3.7 per cent in July as against an impressive 17.2 per cent last year while cement output grew by only 2.3 per cent compared to 8.4 per cent in the same month last year. The refining sector also slowed down marginally to 3.6 per cent growth during the month from 3.8 per cent a year ago.