Eight core industries grow by healthy 6.8% in Feb

• Showing signs of recovery, the eight core infrastructure industries grew by 6.8 percent in February on account of healthy coal and power output, up from a dismal performance of 0.5 percent a month ago.

• The core infra grew by 6.4 percent in February last year. 

• The eight industries-- crude oil, petroleum refinery products, natural gas, fertilisers, coal, electricity, cement and finished steel-- have a weight of 37.90 percent in the overall Index of Industrial Production.

• Electricity, coal and cement output grew by 8 percent, 17.8 percent and 10.8 percent, respectively, in February according to the provisional data released Thursday.

• Economists said if this growth rate is maintained for a few more months, it would improve the overall industry output.

• The eight core sectors had grown by a mere 0.5 percent in January, 2012.