The growth of eight core sectors declined to 2.5 per cent in April mainly due to lower coal, crude oil and cement productions.

The growth rate of eight infrastructure sectors-coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity-was 8.7 per cent in April last year.

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As per the government data released on Tuesday, coal, crude oil and cement production recorded negative growth of 3.8 per cent, 0.6 per cent and 3.7 per cent, respectively.

Slow growth in key sectors would also have implications on the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) number as these segments account for about 38 per cent to the total factory output.

Growth in refinery products and electricity output slowed down by 0.2 per cent and 4.7 per cent in April as against 19.1 per cent and 14.5 per cent, respectively in the same period last year.

However, natural gas, fertiliser and steel reported positive growth at 2 per cent, 6.2 per cent and 9.3 per cent, respectively.