How were the core sector numbers for the month of August, announced on Thursday?

The core sector output or the Infrastructure output for the 8-basic industries was up by 11.6% on a yoy basis for the month of August 2021. This is much better than the 9.9% reported in the previous month of July. This is all the more appreciable considering that the base effect has waned sharply in the month of August compared to July. The core accounts for 40.27% of IIP and hence becomes an important high frequency indicator of growth.

Out of the 8 infrastructure sectors covered in the core sector basket, crude extraction and fertilizers were the two sectors that saw fall in output. In fact, Indian farmers have been facing a serious shortfall of fertilizer supply during the Rabi season. If you consider first 5 months to August of FRY22, core sector grew by a healthy 19.3%. What is more important is that the core sector output for Aug-21 was 3.9% higher than pre-Covid Aug-19 levels.