Eight core industries grew at their slowest pace in 16 months at 3.5 per cent in November because of a fall in the output of crude oil and fertilisers, official data showed on Monday.

The previous lowest expansion in output growth of these key industries was recorded at 2.9 per cent in July 2017.

The growth rate of eight infrastructure sectors — coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity — was 6.9 per cent in November last year.

“The year-on-year growth performance displayed a broad-based deterioration in November 2018, driven to an extent by unfavourable base effects, partly related to a shift in the festive calendar. Accordingly, IIP growth is likely to display considerable moderation to a modest 2-3 per cent in November 2018 from a healthy 8.1 per cent in October 2018, led by manufacturing, mining and electricity,” Aditi Nayar, principal economist with Icra, said.

Crude oil production recorded negative growth of 3.5 per cent, while fertiliser output slipped 8.1 per cent in November 2018.

The growth rate in the production of natural gas slowed to 0.5 per cent, while that of refinery products was down 2.3 per cent. The steel and cement sectors grew 6 per cent and 8.8 per cent in November, respectively.