New Delhi, Jan 31 (IANS): The growth rate of India's eight core sector industries slowed to a 14-month low of 3.8 per cent in December, official figures released on Wednesday showed.

The growth of the cement and electricity segments fell to a crawl of 1.3 per cent and 0.6 per cent, respectively, during the month under review.

Production of crude oil contracted by 1 per cent in December.

The fertiliser and steel sectors grew by 5.8 per cent and 5.9 per cent, respectively, year-on-year in December.

The coal sector performed better than the other segments to register a double-digit growth of 10.6 per cent in the month, although this was the lowest pace of growth recorded since June 2023.

The core sector growth for November was provisionally put at 7.8 per cent, which was on Wednesday revised to 7.9 per cent.

Considering the April to December period, infrastructure output grew 8.1 per cent in the same period of the previous fiscal year.

ICRA chief economist Aditi Nayar said, "The core sector expansion halved to a 14-month low of 3.8 per cent in December 2023 from 7.9 per cent in November 2023, with a moderation in growth across six of the eight constituents. Following the tepid core sector growth in December 2023, we project the IIP expansion for that month at a bleak 1-3 per cent."