The growth of eight key infrastructure sectors rose to 8 per cent in July compared with 4.8 per cent in the same month last year on expansion in the production of coal, crude oil and natural gas, according to official data.

Production of steel, cement and electricity also grew in July, the data showed.

However, the core sector growth was lower in July compared with the previous month when it was 8.3 per cent, commerce and industry ministry data showed.

The output growth of the eight sectors was also lower at 6.4 per cent in April-July 2023-24 against 11.5 per cent in the year-ago period.

Data showed that coal production increased 14.9 per cent in July. Crude oil output increased 2.1 per cent, natural gas production 8.9 per cent and petroleum refinery products output increased 3.6 per cent.

Fertiliser production increased 3.3 per cent, steel production 13.5 per cent, cement 7.1 per cent and electricity generation 6.9 per cent in July.

Madan Sabnavis, chief economist, Bank of Baroda, said: “Core sector data shows buoyancy in five of the eight sectors, while steady positive for the other three. Coal production continues to be buoyant with growth of 14.9 per cent over 11.4 per cent a year ago.”

“This gels with power generation which went up by 6.9 per cent. This reflects both steady business activity as well as the use of DG (diesel generator) sets for agriculture especially in regions where rainfall was weak,” Sabnavis said.

The oil sectors also did well though crude and natural gas registered higher growth rates on the back of negative growth in the previous year, he said.

Fiscal deficit

The Centre’s fiscal deficit in the first four months of 2023-24 widened to 33.9 per cent of the full-year target of Rs 17.87 lakh crore, indicating a challenging path ahead for fiscal management.

The data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) showed that fiscal deficit has soared to Rs 6.06 lakh crore, a significant increase from the Rs 3.41 lakh crore recorded in the same period the previous year.

The deficit stood at 20.5 per cent of the budget estimates (BE) in the corresponding
period of the financial year 2022-23.