NEW DELHI: Indicating weakening momentum in the economic activities, core sector industries’ growth in February 2023 moderated to 6% from a seven-month high of 8.9% in January. Six out of the eight sectors saw the growth slowing down in February vis-à-vis the previous month. Only fertilizer and cement production grew at a higher rate in February when compared to January.
Coal production grew year-on-year at 8.5%, a four-month low. Natural gas output grew at 3.2%, refinery products at 3.3%, steel at 6.9% and electricity at 7.6%. Crude oil production contracted by 4.9% during the month against 1.1% contraction in the previous month.
In FY23, till February, the core sector industry has grown at 7.8% compared to 11.1% in the same period in the previous year. In 2021-22, the overall core sector recorded a growth of 10.4%, which is unlikely to be repeated in 2022-23.
Experts say with unseasonal rain, the core sector growth will be subdued in March as well. “Though the capex by states and union government would continue to witness strong growth, the spell of unseasonal rains could weigh on the cement & steel sector in March 2023. The output of the coal sector is also expected to be affected by the unusual rains in the same period,” says Dr Sunil Sinha, principal economist, of India Ratings and Research.
Centre’s fiscal deficit at 83% of FY23 target
Central government’s fiscal deficit in April-February 2023 period touched 82.8% of the full-year target of `17.6 lakh crore. Last year, during the same period fiscal deficit hit 82.7%. In this period, the government’s gross tax collection has been `25.5 lakh crore against the revised full-year target of `30.5 lakh crore. The year-on-year gross tax collection during the period has grown by 12%.