Monday, January 24 2005 20:14 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Infrastructure growth slowed down to 3.6 per cent in December 2004 from 7.8 per cent a year ago, owing to fall in petroleum and steel output.

The core sector, comprising crude oil, refinery, coal, cement, electricity and steel, grew by 5.4 per cent during the first nine months of this fiscal compared to 5.8 per cent during the same period last fiscal, according to Government data released today (Jan 24, 2005).

In December, output of petroleum products recorded negative growth of 0.3 per cent against 3.1 per cent a year ago, electricity decelerated to 4.4 per cent from 5.4 per cent and finished steel recorded negative growth of 0.5 per cent as against 14.3 per cent last fiscal.

Coal production went up by 7.7 per cent in December 2004 as compared to 6.7 per cent in December 2003, while cement recorded an impressive growth of 8.3 per cent in the month under review against the previous year's 5.5 per cent.