Infrastructure growth rate doubles nine per cent in India

Buoyed by the impressive performance of the cement, electricity, petroleum refinery and crude sectors, infrastructure growth doubled to 9 per cent in April 2004 from 4.5 per cent a year ago.

The growth in these six core sectors, in April 2004, surged from 7.2 per cent in March 2004, according to official data released here today.

The four key infrastructure sectors - cement, crude petroleum, refinery and electricity - posted double digit growth while coal output almost doubled in April.

A housing and construction boom in the country led to a whopping 16.1 per cent growth in cement production during April this year compared to a decline of 2.8 per cent in the year-ago period.

Electricity generation also picked up and posted 10.7 per cent growth in the last month compared to 1.9 per cent a year ago. Coal posted a modest 6.1 per cent growth in April 2004 compared to 3.1 per cent a year ago. Finished steel production declined to 3 per cent in the last month from 14.4 per cent in April 2003.

The growth in the infrastructure sector for April was higher than the average growth witnessed in the last fiscal.