Infrastructure output for the month of January 2006 has declined to 3.3 per cent as compared to a growth of 4.2 per cent for the same month of previous year. Decline in production of crude oil and finished steel led to the slowdown in output growth.

Cement was the best performing sector for the month of January 2006, recording a growth rate of 15.4 per cent. Total cement production for the month was at 13.57 million tonnes.

Coal production maintained the higher level seen in December during the month of January as well, registering a growth rate of 8.2 per cent. Total coal production for January was at 38.3-million tonnes as compared to 35.4 million tonnes for January 2005 and 38.4-million tonnes for December 2005.

The infrastructure index tracks the performance of 6 key basic sectors having a combined weight of 26.7 per cent in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

For the 10 month period April 2005 - January 2006, infrastructure growth has declined to 4.3 per cent as against 6.2 per cent for the same period of previous year. Crude production declined by 5.8 per cent during this period and was the main reason for the slow down in index growth.

Sector-wise growth rates