Production of eight infrastructure sectors increased 5.4 per cent in November against a 3.2 per cent growth in the same month last year on a better show by coal, fertiliser, steel, cement and electricity segments, according to official data released on Friday.

Crude, natural gas and refinery products, however, recorded negative growth in November this year. The growth of the eight key sectors slowed down to 0.9 per cent in October.

The growth rate of the eight infrastructure sectors stood at 8 per cent in April-November this fiscal against 13.9 per cent during the same period last fiscal.

The production of coal rose 12.3 per cent, fertiliser 6.4 per cent, steel 10.8 per cent, cement 28.6 per cent and electricity 12.1 per cent in November 2022 compared with a year ago.

Core sectors industries, which have 40.27 per cent weight in the overall index of industrial production (IIP), would also have a bearing on industrial production data.

The IIP data for November is expected to be released by the government in the second week of January.

Commenting on the figures, Aditi Nayar, chief economist, Icra, said while IIP will display an improvement to a growth of 3-4 per cent in November from the contraction in the previous month, its performance may trail that of the core industries, given the drag imposed by weaker exports.

Ind-Ra said the recovery underway is not broad-based as refinery products, crude and natural gas continue to pull down the year-on-year growth in the core sector output in November.

“The pick-up in the year-on-year growth of the eight core sectors in November would provide succour to the industrial output growth,” the agency said.