Core Sector Growth: Growth rate of key infra sector declines in November, reaches 52.5% of fiscal deficit target

New Delhi| Production of the eight major infrastructure sectors slowed to 4.3 percent in November 2024. A year ago, it recorded an increase of 7.9 per cent. On a monthly basis, these sectors’ output growth exceeded the 3.7 percent growth recorded in October 2024. Crude oil and natural gas production decreased in the month of November. The government released figures related to this on Tuesday.

Production growth of coal, refinery products, fertilizers, steel and electricity stood at 7.5 per cent, 2.9 per cent, 2 per cent, 4.8 per cent and 3.8 per cent respectively, compared to 10.9 per cent, 12.4 per cent, 3.3 per cent, 9.7 per cent and 5.8 per cent in November last year.

However, cement production increased to 13 percent in the month of November. The growth rate of core sectors – coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizers, steel, cement and electricity – stood at 4.2 per cent in the April-November period of the current financial year. In the same period of the previous fiscal year, it was 8.7 percent. Eight major sectors contribute 40.27 per cent to the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) which is the overall industrial development standard.

At 52.5 per cent of the fiscal deficit target in the first eight months of the current fiscal year
The Centre’s fiscal deficit stood at 52.5 per cent of the target set for the entire fiscal year up to the month of November of the current fiscal year (2024-25). This information was given in the official data.

According to the data of the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), the difference between the expenditure and revenue of the government i.e. fiscal deficit was around Rs 8.47 lakh crore during April-November in the current financial year. This is 52.5 per cent of the fiscal deficit target set for FY 2024-25.

In the Union Budget, the government has set a target of keeping the fiscal deficit to 4.9 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in the current financial year. Fiscal deficit was 5.6 percent of GDP in FY 2023-24. The government aims to limit the fiscal deficit to Rs 16,13,312 crore during the current fiscal year. Data for the first eight months of 2024-25 showed that the net tax revenue of the central government was around Rs 14.43 lakh crore.