Core sector growth slows to 3.8% in December, lowest in 14 months

India's eight core sectors registered a growth 3.8 percent in December, the lowest in 14 months.

All eight sectors registered a growth in December, except crude oil, which witnessed a drop of 1 per cent.

Coal saw a growth of 10.6 per cent while natural gas rose 6.6 per cent in December. Refinery products saw an increase of 2.6 per cent in December, down from 12.4 per cent growth witnessed in November.

Fertiliser sector grew 5.8 per cent year-on-year in December. Cement and electricity sectors each grew 1.3 per cent and 0.6 per cent in December.

In November last year, core sector growth was 7.8 percent. The commerce ministry, on January 31, revised this figure slightly up to 7.9 percent. Considering the April to December period, infrastructure output grew 8.1% in the same period of the previous fiscal year.