The better-than-anticipated March figures of 2.9 percent production growth in the six core infrastructure industries depict some positive signs of recovery in the Indian economy. Moreover, with the figures being higher than the 2.7 percent average figures for the full year, the core sector growth is seemingly back-on-track.

Though the figures are the highest since 2008 September, the year-on-year expansion of the core sector remained flat. Nonetheless, the latest core sector numbers would expectedly soften the drop in Index of Industrial Production – which thinned 1.2 percent in February, as they make up 27 percent of the index.

Specifically speaking about the six core sectors, the figures show that electricity generation and cement output touched a 13-month high; coal production depicted an 8.1 percent cumulative growth for the fiscal; petroleum refinery products grew 3.3 percent; crude oil production recovered 2.3 percent; but annual growth in finished carbon steel production dropped 2.6 percent.

Commenting on the indexes for six core industries, DK Joshi, principal economist of CRISIL ratings’ agency, said: “These are some positive signals. Benign cues from the global economy might add to the speed of recovery.” However, refraining to comment on the speed of recovery, Joshi added: “I will wait for another couple of months before taking a call on the strength of the recovery.”