India's October core sector growth at 7.5%

Output from India's eight core sectors grew 7.5 per cent in October, against 0.5 per cent contraction in the year-ago month, government data released on Tuesday showed. The core industries grew by 4.4 per cent in September 2021.

The combined Index of Eight Core Industries stood at 136.2 in October 2021, which increased by 7.5 per cent (provisional) as compared to the Index of October 2020. "The production of Coal, Natural Gas, Refinery Products, Fertilizers, Steel, Cement and Electricity industries increased in October 2021 over the corresponding period of last year," the government stated.

Final growth rate of Index of Eight Core Industries for July 2021 is revised to 9.9 per cent from its provisional level 9.4 per cent, the data added.

The eight core industries comprise 40.27 per cent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

During April-October this fiscal, the sectors' output rose by 15.1 per cent as compared to a contraction of 12.6 per cent in the same period of the previous year.

Meanwhile, India's fiscal deficit during April-October, the first seven months of current fiscal year, stood at Rs 5.47 lakh crore or 36.3 per cent of the budgeted target for the whole year.

Fiscal deficit or the gap between expenditure and revenue was 119.7 per cent of the budget estimate of 2020-21 during the corresponding period last year.