Higher coal and cement production boost factory output

Favourable base effect, along with higher production of coal and cement, gave a boost to India's eight major industries' output in April 2018, official data showed. Accordingly, the output of eight major industries accelerated by 4.7 per cent in April from a rise of 4.4 per cent in March. According to the Ministry, the 'Index of Eight Core Industries' (ECI), which represent major sectors like coal, steel, cement and electricity, also showed an uptrend on a year-on-year (YoY) basis. The index had registered a rise of 2.6 per cent during the corresponding month of 2017. The ECI index carries 40.27 per cent weightage of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), which is the macro gauge for India's factory output. Electricity generation, which has the second highest weightage of 19.85, picked up by 2.2 per cent. Steel production, the third most important component with weightage of 17.92, rose by 3.5 per cent during the month under review, whereas coal mining, with a 10.33 weightage, edged higher by 16 per cent.Cement production, which has a weightage of 5.37, edged higher by 16.6 per cent in April 2018.