India's October infrastructure output grows 3.1% on year

A drone view of the construction work of the upcoming coastal road in Mumbai · Reuters

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India's infrastructure output grew 3.1% year-on-year in October, backed by coal and refinery products output, government data showed on Friday.

Infrastructure output, which makes up 40% of India's industrial production and tracks activity across eight sectors, grew at a revised 2.4% in September.

Last month, coal production increased 7.8% year-on-year compared to a 2.6% increase in September, while output of refinery products grew 5.2%, compared with a rise of 5.8% in September.

Steel production grew 4.2%, against a revised 1.6% increase a month earlier. Cement output climbed 3.3% year-on-year, compared with September's revised 7.2% increase, and fertiliser production rose 0.4%, against a 1.9% rise in the previous month.

Electricity generation was up 0.6% from a revised 0.5% rise in the previous month.

However, crude oil production decreased 4.8% compared with a 3.9% fall in September. Natural gas output fell 1.2% from a 1.3% decline a month ago.

(Reporting by Shivangi Acharya and Nikunj Ohri; Editing by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan)