India's Infrastructure Output Growth Slows to Lowest Pace in December

India's infrastructure output, constituting 40% of its industrial production, expanded at its slowest pace in more than a year in December, attributed to weak performance in crude oil production and electricity generation, revealed data on Wednesday.

Infrastructure output registered a modest growth of 3.8% year-on-year, marking the slowest rate since October 2022 when it stood at 0.7%.

Economist Aditi Nayar from ICRA commented, "Following the tepid core sector growth in December 2023, we project the IIP (Index of Industrial Production) expansion for that month at a bleak 1-3%."

The infrastructure output index monitors activity across eight sectors, including coal and electricity.

In December, electricity generation saw a marginal growth of 0.6%, while cement output and petroleum refined products increased by 1.3% and 2.6% respectively. However, crude oil production witnessed a decline of 1%.

Among the segments, coal and natural gas emerged as the top performers, with production rising by 10.6% and 6.6% respectively, as per government figures.

For the first nine months of the financial year starting from April 1, infrastructure output recorded a year-on-year growth of 8.1%, as per the data.