The eight key infrastructure sectors grew at 8 per cent in July as against 4.8 per cent in the same month last year owing to an expansion in the production of coal, crude oil, and natural gas, according to official data released Thursday. Production of steel, cement and electricity also grew in July.
The growth in the core sector, however, was lower compared with June’s 8.3 per cent, Commerce and Industry Ministry data showed.
The output growth of the eight sectors was also lower in April-July of FY24 (6.4 per cent) when compared with the year-ago period (11.5 per cent).
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These key sectors — coal, crude, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity — account for 40.27 per cent of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
In July, steel output jumped by 13.5 per cent as against 7.5 per cent in the same month last year. Natural gas production increased by 8.9 per cent during the month under review as compared to a contraction of 0.3 per cent in July 2022.
Coal output rose by 14.9 per cent in July 2023 as against 11.4 per cent in July 2022.
The growth rate in the production of refinery products, and fertiliser, slowed down to 3.6 per cent, and 3.3 per cent as against 6.2 per cent each.
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Crude oil production rose to 2.1 per cent in the month under review. WITH PTI INPUTS
Fiscal deficit a third of annual target in Q1
The Centre’s fiscal deficit widened to 33.9 per cent of the Budget estimate in the first four months of the current financial year, compared with 20.5 per cent in the year-ago period, due to a surge in revenue spending, capex and extra tax devolution to the state governments.
In absolute terms, fiscal deficit — the gap between expenditure and revenue — was `6.05 lakh crore as of end-July, according to data released by the Controller General of Accounts.
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Net tax revenues contracted by 13 per cent, while non-tax revenues doubled due to a hefty Reserve Bank of India dividend. Non-debt capital receipts, however, declined 55 per cent due to lower disinvestment receipts.
Due to doubling of revenue spending in July on account of higher release of subsidies, spending rose 16 per cent annually in April-July to `10.64 lakh crore, against the annual budgeted growth rate of 1.5 per cent to reach `35 lakh crore in FY24. Despite the rate moderating to 15 per cent in July, capex growth was a robust 52 per cent in April-July, against the required rate of 36 per cent to meet the annual Budget target of `10 lakh crore. The capex achievement stood at `3.17 lakh crore in April-July 2023.
Fiscal deficit stood at `3.4 lakh crore in the first four months of FY23.
“Notwithstanding the YoY spike in the GoI’s fiscal deficit and high inflation print anticipated for August 2023, we expect the 10-year G-Sec to range between 7.15% and 7.25% in the near term, driven by global trends,” ICRA chief economist Aditi Nayar said. FE