Core infrastructure sector growth slowed down to a three-month low of 6 per cent in February, with six of the eight sectors reporting a sequential decline. The output of the core sectors had increased 8.9 per cent in January 2023.

Barring crude oil, all the segments posted an increase in production. Crude oil output contracted by 4.9 per cent in February.

The growth rate of eight infrastructure sectors — coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity — stood at 7.8 per cent in April-February this fiscal against 11.1 per cent during the same period last fiscal.

Core sector or key infrastructure industries, which have a 40.27 per cent weight in the overall index of industrial production (IIP), would have a bearing on industrial production data for the month.

Data showed that barring cement (7.3 per cent) and fertilisers (22.2 per cent), output in five sectors decelerated sequentially: coal (8.5 per cent), electricity (7.6 per cent), steel (6.9 per cent), natural gas (3.2 per cent), and refinery products (3.3 per cent).

Fiscal deficit

The central government’s fiscal deficit touched 82.8 per cent of the full-year target at the end of February.

In actual terms, the fiscal deficit or gap between the expenditure and revenue collection during April-February period stood at Rs 14.53 lakh crore. Fiscal deficit in the comparable period of 2021-22 was 82.7 per cent of that year’s revised estimate in the budget.