Growth rate of eight core industries slowed in July, declined to 6.1%

The growth rate of eight major core industries slowed down to 6.1 percent in July on account of a decline in the output of crude oil and natural gas. Nevertheless, it has been higher than 5.1 percent in June on a month-on-month basis. In the month under review, the production of eight core industries - coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizers, steel, cement, and power sector, expanded at a rate of 8.5 percent.

Basic industry productions rose 6.1% in the April-July period of the current fiscal, against a 6.6% rise in the same months of the previous financial. The eight basic industries have a weighting of 40.27% in the IIP. IIP indicates overall industrial growth. In July, crude oil production decreased by 2.9%, and natural gas went down by 1.3%.

India's foreign exchange reserves increased by $ 7.023 billion to a new high of $ 681.688 billion in the week ended August 23. In the previous week, the foreign exchange reserves had increased by $ 4.546 billion to $ 674.664 billion. The previous all-time high for foreign exchange reserves was at $ 674.919 billion in the week ended August 2.

According to data released by RBI on Friday, foreign currency assets rose by $ 5.983 billion to $ 597.552 billion in the week ended August 23. Gold reserves rose by $ 893 million to $ 60.997 billion in the week under review. The apex bank said that Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) rose by $ 118 million to $ 18.459 billion. Data from the apex bank shows that India's reserve position with the IMF rose by $ 30 million to $ 46.8 million.