Core infra expands by 2.2% in Feb

Six core infrastructure industries showed early signs of revival, expanding by 2.2 per cent in February from 1.4 per cent in the previous month.

However, the growth was poor compared to the year-ago level of seven per cent.

The core infrastructure industries, which comprises crude oil, petroleum refinery products, coal, electricity, cement and finished carbon steel - had registered negative growth for the first time in 15 years in October 2008 and then again contracted in December.

The core sector accounts for 26.7 per cent of the Index of Industrial Production and the numbers signal where the economy is headed.

Growth for the April-February period fell to three per cent from 5.8 per cent a year ago.