Core Sector Output Contracts By 6.5% In March

With the coronavirus-induced lockdown hitting industries hard, the eight core sectors witnessed a contraction of as much as 6.5 percent for the month of March, according to data revealed by government on Thursday.

The eight core industries comprise of 40.27 per cent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

According to the data, the core sectors grew at 5.8 percent in the same month last year, while it grew by 7.1 percent in the last month i.e. February 2020.

All the eight sectors saw a decline in production with cement (24.7 percent), natural gas (15.2 percent), steel (13 percent), suffering the most.