New Delhi, Apr 1 (KNN)  India’s core industrial sector including natural gas, coal, electricity generation and crude oil showed dismal performance as the total output contracted by 2.5 per cent in February, pouring cold water on economic recovery expectations.
 
Sector-wise performance showed that the biggest decline of over 20 per cent in the month was witnessed in natural gas, followed by coal ( 8 per cent), electricity generation ( 4.1 per cent) and crude oil ( 4 per cent).
 
The cumulative growth rate of the core industries was 2.6 per cent compared to their growth at 5.2 per cent during the corresponding period in 2011-12.
 
The decline in growth in February 2013 was on account of negative growth witnessed in electricity generation and in the production of crude oil, coal, natural gas and fertilizers.
 
The poor performance by these sectors which are considered the lifeline of business activities is a setback.
 
The eight core sectors comprise coal, crude oil, natural gas, petroleum refinery products, fertiliser, steel, cement and electricity.
 
These sectors had shown a 3.1 per cent growth in January.
 
The Eight core industries have a combined weight of 37.90 per cent in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). KNN