Eight core industries grew by 2.2 per cent on annual basis during January, showed government data released by on Friday. The rise in production for core sectors came on the back of expansion in coal, steel, cement and refinery products sectors. The core sectors had recovered from negative growth in November 2019 after four months of decline.

''The combined Index of Eight Core Industries stood at 137.5 in January, 2020, which increased by 2.2 per cent as compared to the index of January, 2019. Its cumulative growth during April, 2019 to January, 2020 was 0.6 per cent,''PIB release read.

The eight core industries, including coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity, comprise 40.27 per cent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).