New Delhi, March 2 (IANS): India's eight core industries such as coal, electricity, crude oil, cement and steel, grew at 3.9 percent in January 2015 compared to a growth of 6.5 percent during the corresponding month of last year, official data showed Monday.

The index of eight core industries with a combined weightage of 37.90 percent in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) stood at 174.8 in the month under review, the ministry of commerce and industry said in a statement.

Electricity generation, which has 10.32 percent weightage in the IIP, grew at 6 percent in January 2015 from a growth of 4 percent in the same month of the previous year.

Cement production grew at 3 percent in January 2015 from an increase of 7.7 percent in the corresponding month of last year.

Steel production was up 10.3 percent from a rise of 4.1 percent in January 2014. Coal sector grew marginally by 1.3 percent from 4.6 percent growth during the corresponding month of last year.

Refinery products increased by 1.5 percent from a rise of 29 percent during January last year.

The fertilizers sector too increased by 1.5 percent from a deceleration of 3.4 percent in the corresponding period of last year.

However, two out of the eight core industries registered negative growth during January 2015.

Crude oil output was lower by 0.2 percent in the month under review from a fall of 0.6 percent in output during the like period of 2014.

Natural gas production fell 13 percent from a deceleration of 14.5 percent in the corresponding month of last year.

The IIP, the barometer for measuring industrial output, had increased by a marginal 1.7 percent in December 2014.

The IIP data for January is yet to be released.