NEW DELHI: India’s core infrastructure sectors contracted 6.5 per cent in March 2020 on account of the nationwide lockdown imposed to contain the spread of coronavirus. The eight core industries, which comprise 40.27 per cent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), had seen improvement in February.
Data released by the government on Thursday revealed that crude oil sector contracted 5.5 per cent, natural gas by 15.2 per cent, refinery products by 0.5 per cent, fertilisers by 11.9 per cent, steel by 13 per cent, cement by 24.7 per cent and electricity by 7.2 per cent during the month. Coal was the only sector that grew, by 4 per cent.
